Heartbreaks And Reputation (Junior Year)
by fanfiction91
Summary: During the summer Derek gets Emily pregnant. Both of them decided they weren't ready to be parents and chose to abort it. Now Junior year of high school, Hotch falls in love with Emily. Meanwhile, Spencer and Penelope find out Derek's "secret" and helps him through it. -Eventually a Morcia pairing. Rated M for subjects and details. (**ON HIATUS**)
1. Chapter 1

**My apologies in advance for the topic of this chapter as well as a spoiler, but I do not want to offend anyone. If abortions are a touchy subject for you, bypass this chapter and begin reading from chapter 2. Thank you.**

"Emily Prentiss"

Emily looked up from her lap where she had developed a pile of chewed off fingernails. She was being called up next for her scheduled appointment.

"May you please come with me"

Standing up Emily brushed off the front of her black T shirt and proceeded to follow the nurse down the hall. At the end of the hallway they went into a room where there was an exam table already prepped for her to lye down with her legs spread.

"Here's a gown. I'm going to need for you to remove your shoes, pants, and underwear. The surgeon will be in here shortly."

The nurse handed Emily the hospital gown and walked over to the cabinet drawer to pull out some headphones. Walking back over to Emily -who was now sitting on the edge of the exam table slipping her panties off- she handed them to her.

"Is this your first time?"

Emily took the headphones from the nurse and adjusted them over her ears, she didn't say a word to the nurse but she swallowed the nervous lump in her throat before giving her a nod.

The nurse plugged the end of Emily's headphone jack into the system beside the exam table that so she will be able to hear the television above her on the ceiling when she turns it on.

"Lay back and place your legs in the stirrups. The surgeon shall be here any minute. My name is Tina and I will be staying in here for assistance. If you feel any discomfort or pain -which you will- during the procedure please squeeze down on my hand. I am here to get you through this."

With that piece of information, Emily closed her eyes and allows herself to somewhat relax. Her heart rate has been high ever since she walked into the clinic this morning. Actually, her heart rate has been high ever since she called and scheduled her appointment.

Emily Prentiss is 16 years old and will be starting her junior year at Quantico High school within a month. She's an only child of an Ambassador mother and a father that's rumored to work for the "CIA". She enjoys romantic walks to the refrigerator and long nights with a bowl of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. Most people would consider her a bitch, but her close friends call her a Realist -someone who tells the truth and doesn't hold back-. Emily is currently single and 2 months pregnant with her friends baby.

Eyes shooting open from the sound of the door opening, Emily's nerves rev up again and up goes her heart rate. The surgeon goes to the sink and washes his hands. He speaks to Emily over his shoulder.

"Do not be afraid child, for you feel this is the right thing. I don't judge, nobody here does. Your secret is safe with us, though I have no control of the lord."

Emily snorted at the surgeons comment about the lord. She was raised Catholic so she was well aware of all the rules she were breaking right now. And how her grandmother and many grandmothers before her were turning over in their graves right now for what she was about to do. See the thing is, Emily had no choice. Her mother would go nuts if she found out Emily was sleeping around, and with a black boy at that. Elizabeth Prentiss wasn't a nice woman and she was a racist. Her life revolves around politics and how the world see's you. So if her teenage daughter were pregnant by a boy of color that would definitely cause an uproar in the tabloids.

The doctor pulls on his rubber gloves and sits down in a rolling chair. He directs his sitting between Emily's perched legs and begins to feel around her vaginal area.

"Okay Emily, my name is Christopher and I'm going to do this procedure on you today. This will take about 15-20 minutes.

The nurse hands him a tool that resembles Tongs. -A silver claw.

"Here we go"

Emily squeezes her eyes shut and holds her breath waiting for the excruciating pain to begin.

2:30 p.m. Derek Morgan is finally let go from football practice. He's the star player and captain of the team so it's mandatory he's at every practice.

"Great job out there Morgan."

Coach Buford says as he comes up behind Derek and slaps him on the ass with a smirk. Derek stiffens up and tries his best to move out of his grasp but it's no use, Buford now has a tight grip over Derek's shoulder

"Not today Carl. I have to get home, my mom needs me to help her out with something."

Derek says through clenched teeth. Buford releases Derek and steps in front of him halting his walk.

"Alright. I'll let you run free today. I have things to attend to anyways, but believe me I will get you some time before the end of this week. So be ready for me will ya?"

Again Buford goes to slap Derek on the ass which he succeeds before jogging off towards the boys locker room. Derek stands there fuming and does his best at holding back the tears that are threatening to drop down his face. Closing his eyes to regain composure Derek heads for the gated fence to leave the school grounds.

On the walk home Derek holds his head down. Today Emily had her abortion. Her and Derek had talked about it days prior to the appointment. He didn't want her to do it while she swore to him she had no choice. It was against Derek's beliefs but it wasn't him having to hold the baby, Emily was. So with that he lost the argument.

Kicking a rock that went flying into the side of someone's car, Derek walked up the steps to his best friends house. He rang the doorbell then knocked twice. After no answer or movement within the house -mansion more like it- Derek walked down the steps and around to the side of the house. Looking both ways to make sure the coast was clear he picked up a few rocks and threw them up to her window to get her attention. Waiting a few minuets the window opened. Emily let down a rope. Derek grabbed onto the rope and began his climb up the side of the house into his friends room.

Once inside he noticed Emily sitting on the side of the bed waiting for him. She looked something like a ghost; pale skin, dried mascara on her cheeks, and bags under her eyes.

"How long have you been crying?"

Emily didn't answer, just continued to sit there staring at nothing. Derek pulled off his jersey which he practiced in as well as his bottoms. He walked into Emily's bathroom and wet a wash rag. Coming back into her room he sat beside her and wiped her eyes and face gently. Emily didn't react to Derek's touch which worried him. Usually Emily was very independent and verbal and would tell Derek she could do it herself, but this time she couldn't. She needed him.

Laying the wash rag on the back of a chair to dry, Derek brought Emily down onto the bed with him as he laid them back. Emily rested her head against Derek's chest. To his surprise, she draped her leg over his and cuddled. Derek played in her hair for a little while.

"Sorry I wasn't there." he whispered

That line made Emily fall apart. She choked on a sob which made Derek hold her tighter in his embrace. Without a response Emily hugged Derek tighter and closed her eyes as a tear trickled down her cheek falling onto Derek's chest. He felt terrible. Towards the end of junior year they started sleeping together. Emily wanted to lose her virginity but she wanted to do it with someone she knew and trusted. What was suppose to be a one time thing became an everyday thing and somewhere in their trust for one another they forgot to wrap it up. Derek got his friend pregnant. At age 16 also, they both weren't quite ready to be parents.

"If I could go back in time and do things right this wouldn't of happened to us. I am so sorry. We'll get past this. In time, it'll be a memory forgotten."

Derek was sure of his words while Emily wasn't. She nodded against Derek and tried to relax. He always made her feel comfortable, the feel of his warm body against hers.

And just like that they both drifted off to sleep, determined to forget today's story.


	2. Chapter 2

Emily was walking up the front steps to her high school. Sitting on the ledge was Aaron and their friend Reid. Aaron was popular and considered a jock, but he wasn't a bully or into childish nonsense. Reid on the other hand was a boy genius and like a little brother to them.

"What's up guys?"

"Hey Emily." said Reid while Aaron just smiled.

Emily rolled her eyes. She knew Aaron had a crush on her. A lot of guys had a crush on her. She wasn't entirely sure if it was because of her looks or what, but word from her friends were the dudes digged her because she was a hard catch. Emily "played hard to get" when in reality she really didn't want anybody. She didn't even want Derek if she was honest with herself. Sure he had a smoking hot body, was handsome and funny, great in bed and could be a sweetheart when he wanted to - but he wasn't her type.

"Emily!" JJ called out as she bounced up the steps and hugged her best friend with a huge smile.

"Hey Jayje, look at you!"

It's been all summer since any of them seen JJ. She was a soccer player going pro soon so she spent the summer away at soccer camp.

"God I've missed you and the rest of you guys so much! Anything new?" JJ asked excitedly.

As Aaron and Reid began catching JJ up with stuff they did over the summer, Emily couldn't stop herself from falling into thoughts about her abortion. Since that day it has been eating at her and tearing her up inside. She wasn't sure why it hurt her so much. She was good at ignoring emotions and keeping secrets, but something about this one bothered her deeply. Her and Derek agreed to keep it their secret. Not only the pregnancy but about them sleeping together as well. They didn't wanna hear shit from their friends, and they wanted to spare Penelope's feelings because best friend title or not, everybody -including the whole school- knew she had a crush on Derek.

Pulled from her thoughts, JJ was shaking Emily's arm. "Come on Em, we gotta get to class before we're late! Wouldn't wanna be on Strauss shit list on the first day."

Nodding Emily followed after her friends into the building. Teens were everywhere scrambling about the halls trying to get to their designated classes on time.

Once turning the corner to head down the science hall they ran into Rossi.

"Heyyyy" Rossi clapped Aaron on the back, along with Reid after. Then turning to emily he smiled and gave her a quick cheek kiss. He blushed a smile at JJ.

Rossi was Italian so it was in his nature to be extra polite to the women with kisses. Plus he had a crush on JJ, so any way to kiss her was a bonus.

"Dave" JJ said with a soft smile as she brung him into a hug.

Aaron, Reid, and Emily all exchanged looks then watched what was playing out in front of them.

"Ok... Did we miss something?" Aaron asked

JJ and Rossi pulled apart from each other slow while quietly laughing.

"Mmm, no. Well yes. Me and JJ are dating now if that what's you mean." Rossi said matter of factly and turned his head back to JJ and gave her a kiss on the lips."

Howls of approval filled the hallway as the friends, now joined by Penelope cheered the couple on

"Well it's about flipping time" Penelope shouted as she walked up to her friends and poked JJ in the shoulder before pulling her into a quick hug.

Everyone laughed.

"Hey P.G. I was wondering where you were." Emily said while giving her friend a side hug.

"Ahh I got caught up in the principles office" she grimaced. Penelope had hacked the system to where she had 1st period with all of her friends. Hacking was her hobby and she was damn good at it.

"Already?" That's a record.. Usually you're in there within a few days. Why so soon?" Reid asked

Penelope shot him a glare.

"Boy wonder, has anyone ever told you about how curiosity killed the cat?"

Rossi whistled then clapped his hands.

"Ok everyone, scoot. We need to get to class NOW."

They all practically ran to the end of the hall and zipped into the classroom before the late bell rang. They took their assigned seats which was away from each other -Strauss knew about their friendship-

Aaron Strauss stood in front of the room and began reading off names to check that everyone was there. Each kid voiced 'here' until there was a pause once she reached the name Derek Morgan.

Looking around the room the friends eyes widened as they looked at each other puzzled because they had no idea where Derek was come to think of it. Aaron was the closest to Derek so of course they all looked at him first, but once he shrugged and glanced up at the clock they dropped it.

Strauss repeated Derek's name when the door swung open and Derek zoomed into the room.

"Here, I'm right here." He said out of breath as he took the last empty seat which was seated near Rossi

"Ahh nice of you to join us Mr. Morgan." Strauss said dryly. "You're late but I'll let it slide just this once since it's the first day, but mark my words Derek, late after this and detention will be given.

Derek grinned "yes ma'm" he nodded as he sat back in his chair and smoothly started adjusting his pants and belt buckle.

Emily caught glimpse of what Derek was doing and before her brain could conjure of an explanation she heard Rossi whisper "scoring already?"

Derek smirked and threw a thumbs up to Rossi's question. Rossi and Aaron just shook their heads and laughed quietly pulling out their text books to get started on the lesson Strauss was now explaining.

Emily felt a pang of jealousy in her heart. She knew her best friend was a man whore but when she basically witnessed it, it often made her irritated. She knew it shouldn't but it did. She frowned and pulled out her own text book and went on to pay attention to the lesson.

Three classes later now at lunch, Emily sat at the table with Reid and Penelope.

"So how did 3rd period go?" Emily asked Reid who was sitting at their table reading a book rather than eating. He didn't look up from his reading but still answered.

"Terrible. I have class with Jordan Todd."

Penelope choked on her bite of salad. "Ugh, I despise that girl. Sleeping around with my man. What a hooch."

Emily snorted. "Your man? Since when do you have a man?"

Reid now looked up from his book.

"I don't." Penelope shrugged. "But I will soon." She took another bite of her salad. "Derek doesn't know it yet, but he'll find out we're meant to be together sooner or later." She finished with a coy determined smile.

"Oh god" Emily rolled her eyes and nudged Pen in the shoulder with a laugh.

Reid shook his head in amusement and continued on to read his book on physics. It was his hundredth time reading it but he found more and more interesting each time.

Realization dawned on Emily and she stopped laughing. "Wait." She took a deep breath. "You mean Derek is screwing Jordan Todd?"

Penelope grimaced and nodded her head in confirmation.

Emily groaned in annoyance and laid her head on the table.

Reid and Penelope looked at her then each other.

Just then Aaron walked up with his arm wrapped around Haley. "What's up?" He looked down at Emily then back at Reid and Penelope. "What's her problem?"

They shrugged and Haley untwined herself from Aaron's hold and squatted down to her knees to be eye level with Emily.

"You okay?" Haley asked in a soft tone.

"Go away" Emily mumbled out.

Haley stood back up and shrugged at the three people looking at her.

5th period the girls have English class together. Luckily for them, their teacher is Kate Callahan.

"First day and first week is free seating. I didn't get a chance to assign seats yet" she said while she rubbed her pregnant belly. "So feel free to sit wherever you'd like."

All of the students sighed in happiness as they began taking their seats. Of course everyone went to sit with their friends.

Penelope sat at a desk farthest from the teacher in the side corner and waived her friends over. Emily and JJ came over and took a seat.

"Hopefully all year we can keep these seats." JJ whispered.

Emily snorted "Please. Like that'll happen." She finished with an eye roll.

Penelope just smiled and JJ noticed.

"What Garcie? Come on spill it."

"Ms Callahan is dating my oldest brother. And that baby growing in her stomach is my little niece or nephew." She beamed.

JJ and Emily's jaw dropped looking over at Ms. Callahan

"Omg seriously PG! Who in there right mind would sleep with Preston?" Emily made an ick face and JJ elbowed her.

They laughed, even Penelope.

"I know, same thing my dad said." Pen said between her laugh. "But she did, they did it."

"More like doing it, do I see a wedding ring?" JJ chirped up which made both girls lean in while looking towards Ms Callahan as if they could get a closer look.

After spotting the engagement ring sparkling on her finger, Emily and JJ turned back to Penelope who quietly mouthed "Oh my god." Apparently Pen didn't know that much.

"Well Pen, it looks like you aren't the only daughter anymore" JJ shrugged.

6th period the boys have class together. As usual the class started out a little rowdy. Ms. Alex Blake walked in and mostly everyone quieted down expect for Derek who was in the middle of a dispute with Reid.

"Yeah yeah boy genius we know already." Derek stated with an eye roll.

Blake walked into view and Derek's breath caught in his throat for a second. First day of school and Derek wasn't tryna get detention already.

"I mean... Thanks for informing me Genius Reid." Derek corrected his sentence and clapped Spencer on the back before looking down at his open text book pretending he was already ready for today's lesson.

Ms. Blake shook her head and laughed. So did the rest of the students including Derek's friends. Derek let out a breath of relief.

Ms. Blake carried on with class and told the students what their homework was before allowing them all free time for the last 10 minutes of class.

"Anybody know who they plan to take to homecoming?" Rossi asked.

Aaron rocked his head to the side, "That's a no brainier, you guys knows I gotta take Haley."

Derek laughed. "Don't say it so speeched, like it's an obligation for you to take your girlfriend." He exaggerated in a teasing tone.

Aaron flicked a tiny wad of paper at him.

Reid added "I'll probably pass. Dances and large crowds aren't my thing."

"Nor are the ladies." Derek teased.

Reid's cheeks flushed red and Rossi smacked Derek on the back of the head. "Apologize."

Reid shook his head. "No it's okay, I'm use to it."

Everyone assumed Reid was gay because he was a virgin and he never dated. Though it was true, he never really told anyone. He never denied it neither. The thing was, out of his group of friends, Derek was the only one who teased him about it. Reid was into statistics and read about everything, so he was convinced Derek was bi-sexual because of how homophobic he was. He hoped he were right because he too secretly had the biggest crush on him.

Ignoring how rude Derek could be, Aaron decided to ask him who he was taking to the dance.

"That's if we make it to the dance." Derek corrected Arron. "Jordan and I be at it like rabbits. The girl can't get enough of me." He grinned proudly.

"Lovely." Rossi said sarcastically with an eye roll.

Everyone laughed.

"What's this I hear about you and JJ dating? Way to go Rossi." Derek leaned forward to hit knuckles with his friend.

"Yeah, my Bella JJ. I couldn't be happier." Rossi smiled with a pleased look.

"Alright, sex is that great?" Derek asked.

"Don't know, we haven't gotten there yet." He shrugged.

"Ah man. JJ's making you wait." He laughed. "Well when it does happen, do tell. I mean, I've thought about it time to time what it would be like to smash her pretty little blonde ass." Derek licked his lips and put extra on it by biting his lip knowing he was pissing Rossi off.

Suddenly the bell rang indicating class was over. Rossi jumped up to snatch Derek but Derek was quicker and sprinted out the classroom.

"I'm gonna kick your ass Morgan!"

Derek chuckled at Rossi's words as he disappeared down the hall to his locker.

Aaron had a hold on Rossi. "Just let him go Dave. He was only playing."

"I don't know. He seemed quite serious." Reid stated.

Aaron gave Reid a look. "You're not helping."

Reid shrugged. "Sorry."

"I sometimes hate that kid." Rossi took his arm back from Aaron's grasp. "Remind me again why we're friends with him?" Rossi added.

That only earned a laugh from Aaron and Reid, and soon Rossi was laughing along with them.

 **A/N: Hi everyone. Usually I write my notes at the top, but I wanted to get opinions on this story.. Are you interested and want for me to go on? I have loads of ideas for this story. I know you've seen and read many CM stories of the team in high school but with how my mind moves you already know it will be full of drama, love, angst, comedy and friendship. Please leave reviews, and again I'll continue to post on this story if you all want me to :) Thanks for your input ^_^**

 **P.S. Another chapter of "My Child" will be posted soon! Stay tuned.**


	3. Chapter 3

Penelope was waiting for Derek by his locker. She needed to speak to him before he went to football practice. As soon as she saw Derek come around the corner, she felt butterflies in her tummy. She straightened out her shirt, fluffed her hair, then smoothed out her plaid skirt. She wanted to look presentable.

Derek walked up to her and gave her a smirk. "Hey mama" he said before giving her a smacked kiss on her forehead.

Penelope grinned from ear to ear.

"What's up?" He asked her as he opened his locker and dropped his book inside. When he got no response he pulled back from his locker to see a stern face Garcia who was tapping her foot impatiently.

"Okayyyy. What did I do?" He asked.

"Jordan Todd? Really Derek?"

Derek looked up and sighed. "Do we have to talk about this right now?" He pleaded looking over at her again.

"Yes. Because as your best friend, it's my job to tell you how stupid you are and that she doesn't deserve you. You deserve someone so much better than that hooch."

Derek rolled his eyes and closed his locker. "Look Pen, I'm not looking for forever. It's just a fling, I'll be done with her soon."

Penelope's lips pursed into a thin line. "Derek Morgan, I am ashamed. When are you going to grow up! You know all of this is going to catch up with you eventually you know?"

He listened to Garcia even though he played it like he wasn't and acted bothered. Little did she know, over the summer his sex drive did catch up with him, and it landed their friend pregnant. Shaking his head out of his thoughts, Derek put a hand on his best friends shoulder. "Garcia I know. I'm strapping up, I promise." Derek crossed his heart with his finger being playful.

Penelope quirked him a smirk. "I do hope you know what you're doing and soon get all of this out of your system. I'm worried about you D, and I don't trust her." She let out a sigh.

They began walking towards the field where Derek stopped in front of her to face her. He pulled her into a tight hug then gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Don't worry Baby girl, everything is fine. I got this under control." He released her. "Now go on and get home. I'll call you later."

Giving her booty a quick smack, -which made Penelope's mouth drop in shock and excitement at the same time- Derek sprinted off before she could say something.

Arriving at the boys locker room, Derek took a shaky breath. Pushing all his fears down, he entered the locker room and suited up for practice.

Aaron Hotchner was walking the hall not paying attention much to what was going on around him. He was an A+ student. Always doing the extra credit work or staying behind after school to help his favorite teacher Mr. Gideon grade papers. His friends always wondered why he avoided going home so often, but stopped questioning him after a few try's and him blowing them completely off for days. Aaron had stopped by Gideon's classroom hoping the man would have something for him to do, but he was greeted with disappointment instead as he watched Gideon grab his keys and head towards him at the door. "Sorry son, I'm needed at the university." is what he said.

Pulling his backpack shoulders tighter, Aaron walked out of the school building. Seeing Emily waving to Spencer and Penelope, she headed down the street opposite of them. Alone.

Aaron quickened his pace eager to catch up to her.

"Emily" he called.

Turning around, Emily saw him and her mouth curved into a smile. She stopped walking and waited for him to reach her.

"Hey Hotch." She gave him a playful punch to the shoulder. She was such a dude.

Aaron laughed awkwardly not expecting that gesture from her, then looked down at his shoes feeling the butterflies take over his stomach, not exactly knowing what to say to her next. Emily made Aaron nervous. They've been friends since freshman year, but as the years went by he became more and more attracted to her. Everyone in their group was aware, so Aaron figured Emily was well aware too.

Sensing the discomfort, Emily reached her hand out and held Aaron's arm smiling. "Wanna walk me home?"

Trying to hold back the huge grin that wanted to spread across his face he nodded and began the short walk with Emily to her house.

Little did Aaron or Emily know, Haley was boarding her school bus and seen them walk away down the street. Haley knew they were friends but she was becoming more and more possessive of Aaron by the days. She was curious.

"Well, we're here." Emily announced looking up at her mansion.

Aaron followed her gaze and mouthed "woah" silently, but Emily watched him do so and couldn't help but to laugh.

"Quite impressive huh? 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, the essentials, plus a movie theater/game room." She bragged with a grin on her face.

Turning his head to look at her again Aaron was speechless. The whole time being friends with Emily he never once been to her house. Sure he knew her mother was an ambassador but Emily didn't elaborate much on it. He smiled sheepishly obviously embarrassed that he was lost of words.

Giving him a pat on the back Emily gave him a nod. "Wanna come in? No one is home right now."

Again, Aaron didn't know what to say. His mouth opened and closed like a fish. Switching weight to his other foot Aaron was finally going to speak when his cell phone started ringing. Giving Em apologetic eyes and reaching for his phone in his pocket, Aaron answered his little brother's call.

Emily stood there looking around trying to focus on everything else but Aaron. She didn't want him to think she was ease dropping.

Ending the call moments later, Aaron looked up at Emily and frowned. "Sorry about that. My little brother says my mom is late again to pick him up from school, so I have to go and get him." He jerks his thumb behind him indicating that he has to leave.

A pang of sadness hits Emily but she shrugs it off and fakes a smile. "That's okay. Go get him."

Aaron leans in to give her a hug. Though it was slightly awkward, Emily accepted and watched as he began a quick walk down the street. Shaking her head, Emily walked up to her front door and unlocked it to go in. Truth is, she didn't wanna be alone. Ever since her abortion she's felt like she's been going crazy, being alone everyday, at home. The constant reminder of her sin haunted her. Derek stopped asking her how she was doing coping with it because her answer was always the same bark for him to stop asking.

Closing the door behind her and stepping out of her black combat boots, Emily was greeted by her pet cat who rubbed himself against her leg. She bent over to pick him up and cuddle him to her neck. Sergio purred in approval which made her smile. "Well it looks like it's just you and me boy." She scratches behind his ears and begins her way up the marble staircase.

Rossi slides a tall strawberry milkshake to JJ. He slides into the booth sitting across from her at the table and sips from the straw in his root beer float.

"Thanks Dave." She smiles.

"Not a problem Bella. Now where were we?"

JJ pulls out a list of plays. Being captain of the soccer team she needed to come up with strategies and different play tactics for her team. Rossi wasn't big on soccer but he paid attention to the game of football so he figured how hard could it be.

At the library, Penelope and Reid were lounging on bean bags on the floor in the Shakespeare corner. It was their favorite spot of the library because not a lot of people went back there so they usually had privacy.

Reid had a Star Wars book laid open beneath him that he was skimming through, while Penelope laid on her back staring up at the ceiling. She sighed.

Reid turned his head her way and watched her for a moment. "Penelope, what's up?"

"Nothing. Just thinking."

"Thinking about what?"

"Derek."

Spencer rolled his eyes. Lately, Derek was all Penelope talked about or thought about. It was becoming annoying.

Freshman year a group of seniors hung Reid naked from a goal post. Derek found out who did it and whooped their asses. Sure he got suspended for a week but he didn't care. He said what they did was wrong and nobody messes with his friends. But sophomore year when Derek was accepted onto the varsity football team, that's when things changed. He changed. Nobody knew exactly why, but Derek developed mood swings, became a man whore, and was always picking on someone, and sometimes that someone was Spencer. He wasn't sure why he became Derek's new target, when he thought they were friends, but he was. Plenty of times Derek challenged Spencer asking him about his sexuality, wanting him to come clean with being gay or not. Their friends would get on Derek about it and argue with him to lay off of Spence, but sometimes he would be so tensed, it would scare Spencer. Spencer was the smartest kid in America and he knew what he read in books and knew statistic's, but he desperately wanted to know what Derek's issue was with gays. On the plus side to Reid and Derek's estranged friendship, it kept Spencer safe from swirlies, being shoved in lockers, and bullied by the seniors.

"Earth to Reid" Penelope said while shaking her friends shoulder.

Not a fan of contact, Reid shrugged Penelope's hand off of him. "Sorry. I was just thinking."

"Yeah, I see that. I think I lost you there."

"Garcia when are you gonna just tell him."

"What? Tell who what?" Garcia played dumb, knowing exactly what Reid was talking about. It was a subject they often went back and forth on and in the end Garcia's answer was always the same thing, that she wasn't Derek's type, and he'd never go for a fat nerdy girl like her.

"I don't even know why you like the guy. He's a dick." He spat.

"Hey! Don't talk about him like that!" Penelope said loudly.

Annoyed that she was even defending him, when he constantly paraded different women in her face instead of seeing the love that she had for him, Reid stood up from the floor and started stacking his books.

Penelope shot up and came beside him. "Reid, what are you doing?"

"Leaving."

"What? Why?"

"Mom needs me." He used as an excuse to blow her off. "It's almost dinner time." He shoved the books into his messenger bag, slung it over his shoulder and across his waist. "See you tomorrow Garcia." He said walking away, down the aisle.

Penelope stood there confused. Was Reid upset?

JJ's phone started ringing. Grabbing for it in her purse, she pulls it out to read the caller I.D. She quirks a brow before answering. "Spence?"

"JJ can I get a ride home. Please."

Looking at Dave for a moment, she nodded her head. "Sure. Stay there, we'll be right over."

"What is it?" Rossi asked watching his girlfriend pack up to go.

"It's Reid. He needs a ride."

"Is everything alright?"

"I hope so. He sounded a little off but I'm sure he's okay. If I remember correctly, he was going with Garcia to the library after school."

Rossi left bills on the table for the tip and ushered them outside to his car. They left the diner to go and pick up Reid.

Spencer was waiting for his friends on the curb. He was sitting with his elbows rested on his knees and staring down at the ground. JJ nearly jumped out of the car and sprinted to him. "Spence, are you okay?"

Looking up at JJ's worried eyes, Reid nodded and began to stand up. "Sorry Jayje, I didn't mean to worry you. I just..I needed to get away from Garcia for awhile and well I'm ready to go home now."

Exchanging confused looks with Rossi, JJ didn't wanna pressure her friend into talking about it so she stepped aside for him to get into the backseat of the car so they could now drive him home. Though they dropped it, Rossi and JJ wanted to get down to the bottom of this.

Night had fallen, and Emily was sitting in front of the tv watching Law And Order SVU. She had a pint size of strawberry ice cream in her lap and a glass of water by her side. Thoughts of the day ran through her mind, from Aaron, to the news of Derek's new hookup, and back to Aaron. Emily couldn't figure out for the life of her why she was thinking about Aaron. Since when did he occupy her mind? Over the summer, all she could think about was Derek Derek Derek. Kinda like the mantra she would sing whenever they'd lie down together and have sex in her bed.

Suddenly, her eyes got wide. She took the ice cream pint and sat is aside so she could get up from the chair she was sitting in. She quick walked down the hallway to her bedroom. Once inside she pulled off her covers and sheets, removing them entirely from her bed and balled them up to throw them in the wash. Next she started picking up things around her room such as clothes. Derek's clothes. The few that he's left over from their flings. Emily wanted no memory or sight of him in her room. She needed to let the summer go. If she were going to get over this, whatever it is this was, she needed to start now. Because Derek's made it quite clear today, that he is over it, and now fucking Jordan Todd!

Derek had just got home from practice. It was another long afternoon running around and catching plays. He was exhausted and all he wanted to do was sleep. But Jordan insisted that he swings by to pick her up so she could show him a good time, when in reality it would be him showing it to her since she always copped out towards the end of a fuck session and he'd have to finish for them.

He pulled off his t shirt and kicked off his shorts, throwing them into his dirty clothes hamper. He wanted to speak to Emily and check on how she was doing, but every time he did that, she would give him a cold shoulder or put up a wall. He didn't understand why she did that and it angered him, but he knew he needed to give her her space so things wouldn't be awkward around their friends.

Receiving another text message from Jordan, Derek replied to her "Getting in the shower now. I'll be there in 20." He wrapped a towel around his lower half and walked across the hall to the bathroom. Inside, shutting the door and locking it, he rememberd he told Garcia that he would call her later. He sighed also remembering their converstion. Was Jordan really that bad? He shook his head and shot her a text too. "Hey baby girl, I'm home from practice. Mad exhausted. See you tomorrow at school." He made sure to send emoji kisses at the end before pressing send. Derek placed his phone down on the the counter, then stepped into the shower. Turning on the knobs, he leaned against the wall and let the heat take over his scarred body and thoughts.

Hotch was tucking his little brother Seth into bed. He had picked him up from school earlier and got them home. He helped his brother with his homework and even went all the way to getting him showered and fed. No sign of their parents existence today which wasn't odd nor sad. Days were better without them anyways. Well without their father; The royal drunk who usually made Hotch his human punching bag.

"Aaron, can you stay with me til I fall asleep?" His 9 year old little brother asked

"Yeah buddy, I can." Hotch got comfortable on the chair in the corner of his brothers room. Seth threw him a few pillows and Hotch took them in thanks.

Aaron's phone was blinking so he reached for it to see what it was. He had several missed calls from Hailey and a text message. Not in the mood for her he dismissed them and put his phone back down. Glancing over at his brother who was now sound asleep, Hotch quietly got up and left the room. He went down the hall to his room and closed his door. Leaning against it he allowed himself to finally relax. He hated having to be an adult all the time. He was only 17 and been playing the role of a father to his little brother Seth since he was born. Their parents were irresponsible pricks and Hotch despised them. His mother would be okay in his book if she actually stood up for herself or her kids for once instead of just succumbing herself to his fathers drunken tyrant.

Kicking off his shoes, Hotch locked his door for safety and fell onto his bed. He didn't bother to pull up his covers, he just needed sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay so, real embarrassing to say I've been having a ball in my mind of how I want this story to go lol. I've gotten positive feedback from readers who's helped my mind go all over the place so ahh (me screaming in happiness) haha. I'm thinking about re writing my summary for the story because my muse is going almost an entire different way. Don't get me wrong the story is still gonna be great! So stick with me... This is STILL FOCUSED ON DEREK PEN EMILY AND HOTCH. So to those that are lovers of those pairings have no fear lol . Here's the next installment. Enjoy :) Leave reviews or PM with ideas or complaints. It's all welcomed.**

"Good morning Hot stuff." Penelope said in a sing song voice greeting Derek at the fence near the schools back entrance, with a coffee cup in hand.

From the student parking lot, Derek walked up to her with a grin on his face. He wrapped his arm over her shoulder and with his free hand took his cup of coffee from her. "Mm, good morning hot mama." He said giving her a kiss on the cheek while walking beside her, feeling her curves mold against his body perfectly.

"No coffee for you this morning?" He asked curiously.

She laughed. "D you know I can't function without my morning brew. I already had my cup."

He playfully tweaked her nose. "Shoulda known." He teased while pulling away from her.

Penelope nearly frowned at the loss of body contact. She was going to say more to Derek but was interrupted by Haley and Jordan crossing their paths in the hallway.

"Hey Derek." Haley waved

"What's up Haley." He replied.

"Hellooo Derek, I woke up this morning so sore." Jordan said with a fake baby voice, trying to be cute.

"Tramp." Penelope huffed.

Derek and Haley's eyes got wide. They couldn't believe that just came outta Penelope's mouth. She never talked like that, or acted so bold.

Penelope couldn't help but make a face at Jordan. She really disliked her because she was spoiled and a brat. Not to mention she was a bully, popular, on the cheerleading squad, pretty, and had the perfect body. It wasn't that Penelope has low self esteem, because she didn't, she just figured bodies like Jordan's is what attracted Derek, so she sorta wished she had one.

Derek caught sight of the face Penelope was giving Jordan so he was sure Jordan noticed it too, as well as heard what Penelope had said. Stepping over to stand in between her and Jordan, Derek looked down at Garcia.

"Uh Penelope, don't you have a class to get to?" He flashed his eyes to the left indicating her to start walking. He could feel the anger bubbling inside Jordan behind him and he really didn't wanna get into this right now with them. It was too early, and not worth it.

Shooting daggers at Derek, Penelope began walking down the hallway, making sure to stomp her heels against the concrete floor extra loud.

Taking a deep breath, getting ready for the furry that was going to be blown his way, Derek spun around and had to quickly dodge a smack in the face from Jordan.

"Derek what the fuck? Who does that fat girl think she is to call me a tramp?" Jordan rested her hands on her hips and stood with an attitude.

"Hey, watch your mouth," Derek pointed his finger in her face, now having his own attitude. "And who the hell do you think you are trying to slap me? Are you nuts?" He glared at her.

"Guys. Come on, it's only 7:50 in the morning. Let's just cool it and drop it. Jordan, forget it even happened." Haley tried to reason with them and make peace. She didn't wanna see her friends fighting.

Jordan rolled her eyes and backed down. "I'm sorry baby. That girl just...gets to me is all." She looked defeated and hung her head.

Derek was still tense about Jordan calling Penelope fat. His baby girl wasn't fat, she was luscious and curvy in all the right places. He was glad Penelope didn't hear what Jordan said, cause it would have crushed her, and that's the last thing he needed. Penelope had a bubbly spirit and walked around the halls of the school with a certain confidence to her. It turned Derek on, though he would never admit it. He's known Penelope ever since 5th grade and it wasn't just til last year where she finally accepted her "flaws" as she called it and turned it into a confident booster which had her floating around the school killing everyone in outfits, heels, and bright colors. His baby girl had class, style, and the best personality out there. She was always smiling, and always helping out. Derek adored her for the love she radiated and her kindness to him over the years. Penelope Garcia was one of a kind and he noticed every detail about her.

Being pulled from his thoughts, Jordan had rested her hand on Derek biceps and gave it a light squeeze. Just then the bell rang and they all had to get to class. Nodding his head at Jordan and pulling away, Derek waved goodbye to Haley and started down the hall leaving a stunned Jordan. Was he mad at her? Hell yes. Was he done fooling around with her? No. It was going to take more than that for Derek to stop sleeping with Jordan. Sadly He needed to learn the hard way.

Penelope stormed into Strauss room and sat down at her desk. She stared straight ahead and didn't dare to look at her friends. JJ nudged Emily to get her attention and cocked her head towards Penelope's direction to direct her.

"What's with Garcia?" Emily whispered.

JJ just shrugged hoping she would know. She turned back around to face forward in her seat to get a look at Spencer. He threw up his hands in innocence and said "don't look at me."

Rossi couldn't help but to chuckle at Reid's reaction knowing JJ was ready to blame him after their little disagreement yesterday at the library. But if Reid didn't have Penelope in a bad mood, that only left Morgan. Speaking of him, Derek walked into the classroom. As he was passing Penelope's desk he was about to bend down to talk to her when Penelope put her hand up blocking him and faced the opposite way. Derek threw up his hands in surrender and proceeded to his desk, plopping down with a sigh and a scrape of his face with his hands. Poor boy looked stressed. Rossi wondered what happened. He'd pry to find out later. Class was about to begin and Strauss was a bitch.

The whole class period, Derek tried his best to get Penelope to talk to him but he kept getting ignored. It was bothering him and he wasn't sure exactly what he did wrong, but he knew he wanted to fix it.

"What did you do to Penelope?" Emily whispered harshly to Derek.

Snapping his eyes to Emily and giving her a quick glare, "I didn't do anything. I don't know why she's mad." He passed the stack of papers to her that was being passed out in their row.

Emily rolled her eyes, not believing Derek's words. Of course he'd say that. He never did anything. Morgan always pleaded innocent. Em shook her head at him.

The bell rang and they all got up to exit. None of them had a class together til after lunch.

"Aaron!" Haley called out to her boyfriend who she seen walking down the hall.

Stopping in his tracks, Aaron pushed a smile to his face and turned around to face her. "Hey babe." He said as he made way towards her and pulled her into a hug giving her a quick kiss. Aaron wasn't into public affection which always bothered Haley. Plenty of times she'd take over and mash their lips together trying to break him out of his shell, but that would only put a strain on there relationship and make him upset with her for days.

Emily who was walking with Reid to their next class seen the exchange and she couldn't help but to feel some type of way towards it. Aaron wasn't hers, but the night before, while she laid in bed she imagined what it would be like to have Aaron as hers. He was a gentleman, smart, had the cutest smile, and not to mention handsome.

JJ, who as pinned against her locker by Rossi as he gave her neck kisses, caught her friend Emily staring at Hotch. Jennifer knew that look. It was like "holy hell I like you" kind of look and it had her confused. Did she miss something?

The minute bell rang and JJ pushed Rossi off of her with a light laugh and fixed the scarf around her neck to hide the hickey she received the night before from him. JJ was still a virgin, but the feelings she had with Rossi were closely pushing her to be ready for him. Dave took it slow with JJ and didn't pressure her to do anything she wasn't ready for and she adored that.

"See you at lunch" Rossi tossed his girlfriend a sincer smile and JJ returned it with a kiss and mumbled "mhm" in agreement.

Not caring if she was going to be late to her next class, Penelope bent down to drink from the water fountain in the hallway.

A whistle was heard from behind her as soon as she bent down to take a drink. Cheeks flashing pink of embarrassment she stood back up right quickly which made her head begin to swirl making her feel light headed.

The boy that whistled rushed to her seeing she became wobbly and wrapped his arms around her from behind. "Are you okay?"

Looking up into the eyes of who was holding her, she was surprised to see Sam. He was a senior on the football team and wasn't a big fan of her hot stuff simply because he took his position as captain this year.

Not sure what to say exactly she just continued to stare. Sam removed himself from her and turned her around. He looked her in the eyes as if he were giving her an exam. "Well you look fine, and that I mean as a compliment." He smiled.

Penelope smiled too.

It was finally lunch time and everybody was sitting around their table. Rossi, JJ, and Derek were on one side, and Emily, Penelope, and Reid were on the other. Hotch was somewhere with Haley in a corner probably making out.

"Ew gross," she grimaced. "Really Dave? Did you just pour BBQ sauce into your salad?" Emily asked.

Rossi put up his hands in a "what" gesture that made Derek and JJ laugh.

"It goes with the chicken. BBQ chicken salad, it's fairly popular if you ask me." He said innocently as he mixed the food with his fork.

Emily rolled her eyes halfway to get a look at JJ who also was lookin at Rossi's salad with an Ew face. That got a laugh out of Emily.

Derek was squirming in his seat and rocking his shoulders side to side while he listened to some song on his playlist on his iPhone. Penelope couldn't help but to watch him. He was failing miserably at whatever rhythm he thought he had and it only got laughs from others walking by. He was in his own little world and adorable while there. Penelope was mad all morning at her best friend, giving him the silent treatment, but right now all she wanted to do was tell him how uber ridiculous he looked and get up to go dance with him.

Reid leaned in to Garcia and whispered "I see why you think about him all day. He's a goof." He joked.

Penelope swatted Reid on the shoulder playfully and Derek saw it. He pressed pause on his song and look at Reid. "Is there a problem pretty boy?"

Reid didn't like Derek's tone and he wanted to roll his eyes thinking here it comes. Derek hasn't teased him all day so it was only right that he got him sometime later in the day.

"Derek, stop it." Penelope and Emily said.

Derek blinked in surprise turning his head to his friends. "I haven't even said anything yet."

"Doesn't matter, we know you are, so just don't." Rossi added.

Feeling attacked and becoming annoyed with everybody, Derek stands up from the table and re puts his earbuds back in his ears. JJ was about to say something to stop him from walking away from the group when he smacked Reid's chocolate milk off the table onto the ground and stormed away.

While Reid just stared at the spilled milk, everyone else shook their heads and groaned in annoyance. Penelope rubbed Reid on the back in her silent way of apologizing for her best friend.

"Somebody's gotta teach him a lesson. He needs to stop picking on Reid for Christ sake." Said Emily.

To her surprise nobody said anything and she wasn't sure if that were a bad or good thing. Finally Reid snapped out of his thoughts and got up from the table. "Umm, I'll be in the library." He voiced before walking away quickly.

Everyone exchanged looks.

"Why does Derek hate Reid so much? What did he ever do to him?" JJ asked before popping a cheeto into her mouth.

Penelope shook her head. "I've asked him plenty of times what's his deal and it's the same answer every time; it's not Spencer, it's what he makes me think about."

"What the hell does that mean?" Emily furrowed her brows.

"I don't know. I can't for the life of me figure it out."

Rossi remained quiet. He didn't have anything nice to say about Derek at the moment so he chose to keep quiet. He knew one thing though, if he keeps picking on little boy Reid, he'll take up Emily's advice and teach him a lesson.

Spencer really went to the library. A specific book came to mind that he desperately needed to read. After searching the shelves for what seems like hours, when in reality it was maybe 15 minutes, Reid palmed himself in the forehead. Of course they weren't gonna have the book he was looking for in here. This was a school library.

Sitting in 5th period, JJ and Emily were paying attention to the lesson Ms. Callahan was teaching while Penelope sat staring off into space. She couldn't stop thinking about Derek. She had sent him a text message asking if he were okay. His reply was "don't worry about it." Not the Derek Morgan she knew but it was the Derek Morgan that he's become lately. It wracked Penelope's brain to why her best friend had constant mood swings along with being overly sensitive. She didn't understand it and it worried the hell outta her. She wished she could make it stop and make him feel good all the time instead of him being on the ever lasting roller coaster he was on.

6th period, the boys sat in the back row next to each other. Derek was on the far end near the door. He kept glancing at the clock and at the door. It was driving Aaron nuts. Nudging Rossi who was siting next to him, Aaron leaned in. "What's with Morgan?"

Rossi looked over at him and seen the distraction display across his face and how he kept glancing back and forth between the clock and the door. Turning back to Aaron, Rossi shrugged. "Maybe he's anxious to get home so he can spend some alone time with Jordan."

Aaron quirked a brow. He doubted that. He knew the girl was Derek's new fling but there's no way in hell he would be that anxious to get home and smash. Derek liked sex, but it didn't excite him like that. It was more of a relief rather than satisfaction. Aaron only knew this because as Derek's best friend since the 2nd grade, they told each other everything. Well, almost everything.

Halfway into the period the door opened, and walked in Coach Buford. It got everyone's attention and Derek gripped his pencil in anger as he bent his head down on the desk. Both Aaron and Reid noticed the change in his behavior and seen the anger rage through him once coach Buford said his name to excuse him from class early. Something about they needed to go over new plays and strategy.

Derek was reluctant to get up from his desk for a minute and when he finally did it wasn't quietly. He jumped up, snatched his backpack off the desk and rushed out of the room nearly dodging to have any physical contact to Buford as possible when he passed him in the doorway.

Nobody noticed or cared, unlike his friends. Rossi missed the moment looking down at his cell phone texting back JJ, but Aaron and Spencer saw the whole thing and were confused. Since when did Derek not appreciate getting excuse from class early, or going to football practice.

Reid had his speculations, and now was even more determined to head to the city library after school.

Aaron made a mental note to given his best friend a call tonight.

Emily was standing at her locker listening to JJ talk about movie plans with Dave this weekend as she shoved books into her bag. JJ was going on and on about some horror flick that just came out and how even though Dave asked her out on a date, she wanted her friends there as well.

"Jayje, don't you think that's kinda rude? Obviously Rossi wants to spend time with you, alone. Without us." She cocked her said to the side looking at her blonde friend.

"I know but..." She trailed off unable to find the correct wording. "Em just think about it. It would be fun." She beamed, trying to channel the attention off of her almost previous answer.

Emily shook her head and chuckled.

Aaron walked up to them and leaned against the lockers. "Um Emily, can I walk with you to your house today?" He asked with confidence which surprised himself and Emily.

She stopped what she was doing and pretended that she was thinking. "Uhh, yeah.. That's fine." She said cautiously.

JJ stood there speechless. Did she miss something? She saw the way Emily was staring at him earlier and now Aaron was asking to walk her home? JJ was confused.

"Great." He smirked. "I'll be out front." He pushed himself off the lockers and made way down the halls to the front of the school.

Emily had forgotten JJ was standing there until she slung her bag over her shoulder and didn't make eye contact.

"Excuse me, what was that?" JJ whispered

"What was what?" She played dumb.

Giving her a huff, JJ grabbed her arm to turn her to look at her. "Aaron and you? Did I miss something?"

Trying to find the right words in her head, Emily fumbled with the strap on her bag. "No, it's nothing. He just wants to walk me home." She shrugged.

JJ didn't believe her and eyed her for a minute. Suddenly looking up at the big clock that was on the wall, JJ let out a sigh. She had soccer practice so she had to go.

"Whatever Em, I will find out." She pointed then turned on her heel to sprint off.

Emily pushed away the butterflies that began to flutter in her stomach and headed to the front of the school to meet Aaron.

Spencer arrived at the city library way quicker than he thought he would. He went inside and straight to the area where he knew the book would be. Finding it, he took a seat on a bean bag in him and Penelope's favorite corner. He opened the book and began reading.

After about 10 minutes, Reid looked up and spoke out loud to himself. "Oh fuck." He said, which is a word he never used in his vocabulary. Matter of fact, Spencer never cursed. "Crap, I need to talk to Penelope. And fast." He fumbled with grabbing his cell phone out of his pocket.

"Speak to me my genius friend."

"Uhh Garcia we might have a problem here."

"What is it boy wonder?" She asked with the phone held to her ear with her shoulder as she painted her nails a neon pink.

"Derek."

"Oh my god, what happened? Is he okay?" She sat the nail polish bottle on her desk and say forward in her chair anxious to know what Reid was going to tell her.

"Ehh, not exactly." Reid ran his fingers through his hair. "I mean yes he's okay in a sense of dead or alive, though he's probably feeling dead inside which explains the mood swings, hypersensitive, hyper sexual attitude and-" he began to ramble his statistics which Penelope was in no mood for right now since she couldn't focus past Spencer saying there was a problem with Derek.

"Spencer! What the heck? Is Derek okay? Why did you call. Stay focused please."

"Oh yes, ok ok. Um. Actually. I need to see you. Can I come to your house?"

Sighing in frustration Penelope told Spencer yes and told him to worry. She was super worried now and Reid did nothing but get her all worked up.


	5. Chapter 5

To Derek's surprise, coach Buford really did excuse him from class early to plan new plays and strategize with him. It threw Derek for a loop because he feared the worst would happen today, but he assumed Buford changed his mind.

"Good job Derek, now let's get out there and show the team what we came up with." Buford smiled.

Derek gave him a smile back and nodded as he pulled on his helmet and took off running towards the field.

Buford's smile instantly changed into an evil grin and he too walked out to the field with his clipboard in hand.

Arriving at Emily's house Aaron stopped to stand in front of her. He gave her his rare smile and it made her smile shyly which was not her character at all.

"Well, here we are." He said slightly awkward.

"Yeah." She replied awkwardly back.

Aaron stared into her eyes for a moment. She was beautiful and he noticed more than anything today, right now. He wanted to kiss her but he knew that wasn't the right thing to do ...since he was technically still dating Haley.

"Em," he began. "You do realize I have feelings for you right?"

And just like that, Emily felt numb. She didn't know how to react or what to do. Her face must of shown her feelings because Aaron looked hurt all of a sudden. It snapped her back to reality though because next thing she knew her lips were on his and he seemed stunned. He definitely wasn't expecting her to do that. Eyes widening from what was happening, Aaron relaxed and kissed her back. Aaron wanted to lose himself in Emily's kiss. It just felt so...right, like they had been made for each other. It was different than when he kissed Haley.

Oh no, Haley. His heart sunk into his shoes, so he broke off the kiss. Both of them were panting. He looked into Emily's eyes and saw an emotion flickering in there. Hope?

"Haley," he gasped out, still trying to regain his breath. Emily looked understandably regretful as reality washed over her as well. She tried to swallow the lump that was forming in her throat and hold back the tears that were threatening to spill over.

Aaron pressed his lips to hers once more and fled the house.

When Aaron was down the street and no longer in sight, Emily managed to run up her front steps, unlock her front door and slam it close. She leaned her back against it as hot tears had began running down her face. It was like a proverbial dam had broken – months of pent-up emotion suddenly began to escape. She grieved for her unborn baby, devastated that she had to go through it alone. She cried for Derek, for she knew that something was bothering him, something more than just the abortion and his spat with Penelope. And she cried for Aaron, because she desperately wanted to be with him but he had Haley and she didn't want to become a home wrecker. Why did life have to be so complicated?

"Haley," Aaron called out, spotting her as he jogged back to the school grounds. She stopped walking with a few girls she called her friends and waited for him to catch up to her. Her heart was unsure, she suspected that something was amiss.

"We need to talk," they said simultaneously. Aaron gestured for Haley to go first.

"Aaron, what's going on between you and Emily?" she asked, "I saw you two walking home yesterday and," she paused. "I don't know, it just seems like you guys are becoming more than just friends." She made air quotes when she said the word 'friends'.

Aaron took a deep breath. He desperately wanted to spare Haley this pain, but she also deserved the truth.

"Haley, I am in love with Emily."

Haley sucked in a breath. Her face contorted with pain and confusion. Their gazes met, hurt, anger and acceptance mingled into one.

"Why am I actually not surprised to hear that," she said calmly with tears flowing down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry Haley, I didn't want to hurt you."

Blinking back tears, trying to stop them from continuing to fall, Haley wiped her cheek. "How long?"

Aaron pulled his eyebrows together in confusion.

"How long have you known you were in love with her Aaron!?" Haley raised her voice which startled the both of them.

Becoming a little nervous, Aaron rubbed the side of his neck. "Since the summer."

There was silence.

"Did you cheat on me with her?"

Inhaling a deep breath of guilt, Aaron hung his head down in shame, then outta respect, he look up into her eyes. "I kissed her about 20 minutes ago. That was the only time, I promise."

Haley nodded. "Thank you for the truth. Goodbye Aaron." She turned around and walked away, leaving Aaron staring in her wake.

Laying on her stomach across her queen sized bed, Emily licked her now dry lips from having them parted while she cried. It's been an interesting week for her. She was confused to why she desperately wanted Aaron by her side when just a few days ago it was Derek who held her attention. Did she really want Aaron or was her mind clouded by the attention he was willing to give her?

Emily heard a knock on the front door which pulled her out of her thoughts. She ignored it, hoping that it would go away. The knocking continued, and someone started calling out her name over and over again.

Aaron.

Emily rolled out of bed and ran down the marble steps and wrenched open the front door.

"Aaron," she breathed.

Football practice ended too soon for Derek's liking. As usual, he planned to escape as quickly as possible, but no such luck. Coach Buford's evil, sinister grin returned which caused a chill of fright down Derek's spine.

Derek was his star player, in more ways than one. He cornered the quarterback player in the locker room once all the other teammates had emptied out. Locking the door so that no one could come back into the changing room, he turned to Derek. The teen stood before him, chin lifted in defiance, arms folded, trying to look brave.

"Great practice, Derek, you really are my star player," he grinned, licking his lips as he advanced on him, "however, your attitude earlier with your little gay friend Reid," Derek's eyes widened confused to how Buford knew about that. Buford pinned Derek against the lockers in place. "And the way you acted in class when I came to dismiss you," he licked the column of Derek's neck. "was un-ac-ceptable," he emphasised the last word, dragging out each syllable.

Hot tears filled with dread, fear, shame, and disgust streaked Derek's face.

"I'll just have to teach you a lesson, won't I?" he breathed in Derek's ear, his breath hot and heavy.

Penelope swung her door open as soon as she spotted Reid walking up her driveway. She ushered him inside and lead him to her den where the tv was on, playing some cop show that Reid figured one of her brothers were watching.

She grabbed the remote and turned the tv off before sitting on the arm of the couch. Reid sat across from her on the sofa chair and pulled off his bag setting it on the floor in front of him. Penelope tilted her head to the side as she caught sight of a book Reid was grasping to for dear life.

"What's that?" She pointed.

Hiding the book and shoving it into his bag quickly, Reid tucked a loose strand of his hair behind his ear. "Penelope, I think-" Spencer's mouth went dry. He knew he needed to tell Pen what he researched and concluded about their friend, but on his way over he didn't necessarily plan out how exactly he was going to tell her.

Sensing her patience wearing off, Spencer groaned in defeat and bent over to pull out the same book he just put away. Flipping through pages, he held the book flat open and handed it over to her. He watched as her eyes read the page and he knew she was beginning to understand the literature once her eyes began to grow wide like saucers.

Penelope gasped and threw her hand over her mouth before staring at Reid over the brim of her glasses which had slid down to her nose. She didn't say anything for a long minute and Reid's attention was taken as he looked over at Mr. Garcia who was walking past them down the hall in nothing but a big T shirt and a pair of tighty whities on with a can of beer in his hand unaware of Spencer's presence.

Anybody else would have probably giggled at the sight but for Spencer, it just made him shudder.

"My poor best friend." Penelope cried, finally finding her voice. "What are we gonna do?" She asked with desperation in her voice as she leaned in to Spencer.

We? Was all he could think of. If his speculations were true, he now understood why Derek has been so mean to him. Derek knew Spencer's secret and if he's really being abused, a homosexual Spencer was not what Derek needed around him.

Swallowing the lump in his throat trying to find his voice, Reid shook his head. "We do nothing."

Penelope's jaw dropped at Spencer's words.

Sensing the on the coming fury, Spencer back peddled. "No no, what I meant was, It's dangerous territory Garcia. What if we aren't even right?"

She stood up and began pacing the room. Thoughts and Emotions were running rapid in her mind. Not her hot stuff. Who could be doing such an evil thing to him? Why was Derek allowing it to happen? Why hasn't he come to her for help? She stopped pacing and stared at nothing in particular.

Reid snapped his fingers a few times to get her attention. Garcia snapped back to reality and advanced on him. Being yanked from his seat, Penelope was dragging Spencer by the collar out of the house. She had grabbed her dad's keys to their station wagon.

"Penelope where are we going?"

"To Derek's house."

Aaron stood in front of Emily unsure of what to do next. He saw the dried up trace of fallen tears on her cheeks and it made him tense up. Did he do this? Was he the reason that she were crying? He stepped into her house and leaned against the door closing it shut. Emily stood in front of him speechless. She watched the emotions of guilt then happiness flash across his face before he sighed.

"It's over."

"Huh?"

Aaron pulled Emily towards him crushing her chest against his as he kissed her tenderly on the lips. Emily reacted quickly and rested her hands on Aaron's shoulders. Begging for entrance to her mouth Aaron nipped at her bottom lip which caused her to part her lips for him to plunge his tongue inside. Now doing a dance against each other's tongues for dominance Emily moaned in the kiss enjoying the moment, mentally saving it for the next lonely night because with what she was about to do next, she was sure Aaron wouldn't understand and would never come back to kiss her again.

Emily pulled her body away first, then her mouth from the kiss. Aaron stilled, searching her eyes for answers to why...

Emily backed away from him and he saw that her hands were trembling.

"Emily what's wrong?"

Wringing her hands together Emily turned away from Aaron. "I'm not-" she hung her head. "I can't do this."

Aaron was taken aback. He thought this was what she wanted. Didn't she like him? Didn't she want him?

"Emily, we can slow down. I don't mean to scare you away." He said carefully.

Her breath hitched and she felt the tears spill over. She couldn't keep quiet as a choked sob escaped her lips. Aaron moved over to her quickly and wrapped his arm around her shoulder turning her in to hug him where he rested her head in the crook of his neck. He didn't know what was going on or what came over Emily but all he knew was whatever it was he instantly wanted to take on her problems and help her through it. He knew this was love, but how could he fall for someone he barely knew outside of school?

"Stay." She whispered.

"Emily I don't know if-"

Pulling away, Emily looked up at him and took his big hands into hers. She lead the way up the marble stairs back into her room.

Fran Morgan heard the knocking at her front door. She wiped dry her hands against her smock. She had been in the back room of the house adding finishing touches to a painting she had been drawing.

"Reid. Penelope." She stated their names while looking back and forth between the two.

"Hi Ms. Morgan." Penelope tried to use her normally chipper voice.

"Please dear, just call me Fran." She smiles. "I tell you this every time."

Penelope rested her hand over her heart. "I'm sorry Fran, but um, is Derek here?"

"Oh no. He's still at practice." Fran checks her wristwatch. "He actually should be on his way home soon."

Reid looks semi relieved. Knowing Derek wasn't home meant him and Garcia were off the hook and could turn around to go home and act as if he never "discovered" a thing.

"Fran, I hate to intrude, but would it be alright if Spencer and I stay to wait for him..?"

In her eyes, you could see that Fran was becoming a bit alarmed. Penelope reached a hand out instinctively to pat Fran's. "No need to worry, it's just about...Um-"

"Homework. We have a project due next week and we need to go over some things with Derek is all." Reid threw in for the save.

Fran stepped aside letting the teens through the front door. Penelope and Reid sighed in relief.

Derek was walking to his truck that was parked in the student parking lot. He felt queasy and battered. Coach Buford hated when Derek didn't cooperate -which was every time- so Derek took a couple of blows to his sides and a slap across the face leaving a scratch on his cheek bone. As soon as he slid into the passenger seat, he leaned back to relax for a moment. His head was swimming with mixed emotions and his side was so sore that it hurt to breathe.

JJ was just finishing up her late practice with her soccer team. Rossi had stayed behind to give her a ride home. He too was walking to his car in the student parking lot when he spotted Derek's truck. Walking up to the driver side window, Rossi rapped his knuckles against the glass which startled Derek.

"Hey man! Don't do that!" He sounded uneasy.

Rossi threw his hands up in surrender.

"Sorry Morgan, jeez you're on edge. Whats gotten into you lately?"

"Not right now Rossi." Derek closed his eyes again inhaling a breath as he tried to relax back into his seat.

"Are you okay?"

"Fine." Derek clipped.

Rossi studied him for a moment longer before tapping the side of the story indicating he was out.

After a few minutes Derek leaned forward, put the key in the ignition, revved up his truck, and drove away.

"Ready to go Bella?" Rossi asked his girlfriend as he approached her back on the soccer field.

JJ rolled on her tippy toes to give Dave a kiss on the lips. "Yep, all set." She smiled.

He wrapped an arm around her waist and walked her to the car.

"I ran into Morgan.." He said while slipping into his side of the car.

"Oh?" Was all she could say, with a glint of curiosity in her voice.

The car fell silent at Rossi turned the car on and began to drive out of the schools parking lot. Once on the road JJ broke the silence and spoke again.

"What was he still doing here? I thought I saw coach Buford send the football players home hours ago."

Dave was quiet for awhile. He heard JJ and he thought so too. Thinking about his brief interaction with Derek, Rossi realized Derek had a cut on his cheek and he seemed jumpy. Sure football would do that to you. Right?

JJ sighed. "Babe, I don't know what's going on with derek, but something wrong is definitely happening."

Stopping at a red light, Dave turned to look at her.

"We have to figure it out and help him."

"What do you suspect that we do?"

"Talk to him, I don't know. I know he likes to shut every one out, but this isn't the Derek I remember. This isn't the Derek I became friends with back in middle school."

The light turned green and Dave continued driving. JJ was right. Something was definitely going on with their friend and whatever it was was not only taking a toll on Derek, but on all his friends as well. And poor Reid. The kid seemed to take it the hardest, with how rude Derek has been to him lately.

"Okay Bella. Tomorrow we start. I'll talk to him first, see if I can he anything out of him. If that doesn't work out, then you're in for the steal. Maybe a female approach will be better."

JJ leaned in towards her boyfriend and wrapped her arms around his arm. She leaned her head against his shoulder and thanked him.

Parking his truck in the driveway, Derek noticed Penelope's dad station wagon parked across the street from his house. He grabbed his go bag which held his football helmet and pads in it sliding out his truck to walk up to his front door. Turning the key in the lock Derek opened his door and walked inside. He was hit with the smell of cooked food and some laughter.

"Ma, I'm home." He called out as he turned the corner to the kitchen.

In front of him was Penelope and Sarah sitting on stools in front of the counter, Reid and Dez were sitting on their knees in the living room putting together a puzzle, and his mother Fran was standing over the stove stirring a pot of what looked to be pasta.

"What's all this?" Derek asked carefully.

"Hot stuff." Penelope smiled as she slid off the stool to get over to him. She removed his go bag from his shoulder and placed it on the hook beside them, then rested her head on his shoulder. "How was practice my star player?"

Derek flinched at her words and back away from her quickly.

The room fell silent and everyone stared at Morgan.

"Honey? Are you okay?" Fran asked with concern.

Suddenly feeling claustrophobic, with no answer, Derek fled the downstairs and jogged up the stairs to his room and slammed the door behind him.

Tears glistened in the back of Penelope's eyes.


	6. Chapter 6

**This is like a part 2 to chapter 5... But it's chapter 6 lol. FYI. Thanks for sticking with me and reading this story :) Love you all. Mwuah :-***

The room was dark and quiet. The only bit of light was the moon shining through the open window blinds. Aaron had gotten Emily to stop crying hours ago, and there they continued to lay in her bed, where they both had fell asleep. Aaron's cell phone kept beeping indicating he had text messages, and he's sure it was from his little brother.

Slowly sliding from underneath Prentiss, Hotch broke free and tip toed across the room to his pants to grab his cell phone. Clicking it on he saw a few missed calls from home and a text message from his brother.

"Hello, Seth?"

"Aaron. Where are you?" Said the little voice.

"I'm over at a friends, buddy. Are you okay? Sorry I didn't."

"Yeah I'm okay, mom remembered me today." He smiled.

"Good. That's good. Is dad home?"

"Nope. Mom said he's away for business. Won't be back til Sunday."

Aaron smiled at that and looked over his shoulder at Emily who was still laid sleeping.

"Listen Seth, I'm not coming home tonight. If mom asks, tell her I'm at Haley's okay."

"I will. Love you Aaron."

"Love you too buddy."

Aaron hangs up the phone. He shoves it back into his pants pocket and returns to Emily's bed. She stirs awake and for a long moment they stare at each other silently. A smile breaks out onto Emily's face and Aaron sighs in relief.

JJ is putting up her clean clothes from earlier's wash that her mom did when her cell starts to ring. She giggles out loud thinking its Rossi calling, claiming that he misses her already, but she was surprised to see that once again it was Spencer.

"Spence? What's up?"

"Hey JJ. Are you busy?"

She sticks a shirt on a hanger and sets it in her closet. "Not really, why?"

"By any chance are you with Rossi right now?"

She stops what she's doing. Her mind started to race and she almost thought the worst, unil Spencer spoke again saying that he asked because he wanted to know if he could get a ride home.

"Sorry bud, no Rossi. I hope you're not stranded somewhere."

"Oh no no, I'll be fine. Fran already offered me a ride but I wanted to ask you first because well,-" he went silent and JJ had to pull her phone away from her ear to look at it to make sure the call didn't drop or something.

"Spencer?"

"Still here sorry."

"I get it. You're more comfortable with me."

Reid made an incoherent agreeing sound.

Another moment of silence passed before Reid ended the call. JJ continued to hang up her clean clothes. "Reid. Fran? Why is he at Derek's?" She questioned out loud to her self.

Derek sat leaned against his head board staring out the window beside him. It was dark outside and the sky began to sprinkle.

Fran left to drive Spencer home and took the girls with her so Penelope could have alone time with Derek. If anybody could make Derek feel better, it was definitely Penelope Garcia.

She knocked on his bedroom door.

"Go away."

Penelope frowned and pushed open his door anyway. Derek had his head turned away from her.

"You never listen do ya?" He said in an annoyed tone.

Penelope chose not to answer and sat at the edge of Derek's bed. She's talked to Derek plenty of times when he was in a mood like this, but this time was different. She thought she knew a deep secret to why her best friend had been acting his unusual self lately. She was walking on egg shells.

"D."

He said nothing, just continued to stare out the window into the night.

"Back in the kitchen... Was it something I said that made you run? Or-"

"Stop it. It's not your fault okay. Is that what you wanna hear?" He turned to look at her and for the first time Penelope noticed the cut across his cheek as well as a purple bruise surfacing.

Penelope shot across the room to him and went to cradle his face in her hands to examine the cut when Derek interjected with his arm. Her eyes went wide in shock and anger at the same time.

"Derek let me-"

"Don't touch me."

"I just wanna-"

"No Penelope!"

She huffed in frustration and crossed her arms.

Derek rolled his eyes and stared down at the floor. He knew Garcia was just trying to help, and any other time he would let her, but not tonight. He had just been molested for the 7th time and with each passing day he was becoming more furious.

"Hot stuff can I just-"

"Leave."

"What?" Her face showed confusion.

"Just go. Please." His voice cracked.

Penelope stood her ground. Her hot stuff was obviously hurting right now. And despite what Derek said she wasn't budging.

"Derek you can trust me."

He looked up at her surprised and studied her face.

"What?"

Penelope brung his hands into hers and gave his a tight squeeze.

"I promise not to tell anybody if you don't want me to."

"Penelope what are you talking about?"

"Shh shh, it's okay. Reid found a book in the library and he did some research and-"

"Woah woah baby girl, pump your breaks. Now what is going on here? What do you mean Reid did some research?" His eyes flashed with anger.

Penelope bit down on her bottom lip to cover her slight fear of how he'd react to her next words.

"Derek are you being molested?"

His eyes went wide with shock and he shot up off his bed.

"Are you fucking serious? What kind of question is that!" He shouted.

"The attitude, the mood swings, the different girls-"

"Oh so I'm a fucking research paper now because I choose to sleep with different girls?" He retorted.

"No! That's not what I'm saying at all." She reached out for him but Derek jerked his body out of reach to dodge her from touching his side, but because of his sudden movement he bellowed over in pain.

"Derek!" She cried.

"Thanks for the ride Ms. Morgan." Spencer said as he stepped out of the car onto the curb by his house.

Fran gave him an eye and Reid tucked a loose strand of hair behind his ear to calm his nerves.

"I mean, Fran."

She smiled and he felt relieved.

"Bye genius." Derek's younger sisters said in union followed by giggles.

He smiled at them and nodded his head before watching the Morgan's car disappear down the road. Reid turned to walk up his driveway. As soon as he got to his front door he heard the sounds of furniture legs being scraped along the floor inside. Inhaling a shaky breath Spencer opened the door and stepped inside. His mother continued moving things around frantically not noticing his presence.

"M-mom." His voice cracked.

She stopped moving and turned her head to look at him.

The room was so silent you could hear a pen drop. Spencer didn't realize the breath he was holding until a slow smile appeared onto his mother's face.

"Hello son, when did you get home?"

"Just a min- ...I mean, I've been in my room this whole time reading books." He corrected his response with a lie.

"Oh dear. Did you eat? You have to eat."

"No thanks mom, I'm not hungry. I ate at school." He assured her with a slight smile of his own.

His mother had a distant look in her eyes for a moment before she met eyes with him again and simply said "okay."

She got back to what she was doing and Spencer didn't dare to ask what or why. He just left her in the living room and went to his room to get ready for bed. But first he needed a shower.

Rossi was sitting up in bed. Something was troubling Derek and it now was heavy on his mind. He's seen the teen spiraling down hill and it worried him. Derek had a football career ahead of him and could do whatever else he wanted to do as long as he put his mind to it. The Derek Morgan he knew was calm, reserve, a gentleman, driven, goofy, and loving. But this new Derek Morgan was ...dark. And none of their friends were taking a liking to it.

Receiving a text from JJ pulling him out of his thoughts,Rossi smiled at the message then replied.

"Goodnight baby, kisses to you too."

As soon as Jordan received the 911 text from her best friend she rushed to meet her at her house. Haley was shaking while she cried in the arms of Jordan after the realization of Aaron loving another girl sank in. What had she done wrong? What did Emily have that she didn't?

Jordan rubbed soothing circles onto her friends back as she whispered sweet things to try and help ease the heart ache.

"He was my first."

"I know." Jordan frowned.

"I gave my womanhood to him Jordan. I gave him a precious part of me ...and he's in love with another girl?"

"He's a jerk. Forget him Haley."

"Easier said than done! He will pay for the pain he's caused me Jordan, mark my words."

Jordan pulled away from her and looked her friend in the eyes. She knew Haley meant her words and as the best friend she knew she had to be in on whatever his pay back would be. Jordan nodded her head in acceptance and agreement before being jolted out of her concentration by the sound of her phone ringing.

She pounced for it quickly and smiled as soon as she read the name across the screen.

"Is that Derek?" Haley asked

Jordan put up a finger to her friend to keep quiet.

"Hello?"

Haley crossed her arms.

"Hey Bryan, yeah it's me."

Shocked, Haley listened intently trying to hear the other side of the phone conversation.

"Yes you can pick me up right now. I'm at Haley's actually, so I'm closer to you. I'm ready for you baby, call me when you're outside." Jordan smirked before ending the call. She focused her attention on Haley and her smirk fell. "What?"

"What the hell was that? Bryan? You're talking to Bryan again?"

"It's nothing Haley, he called me a few days ago claiming he missed me so I gave him some attention and now he won't back off."

"Oh great, so now you're cheating on Derek?"

"So what? Bryan's in college. Derek will never find out. Besides, tonight we're just chatting, catching up."

Haley checked the clock on her nightstand then looked back at her friend.

"Yeah...catching up at 10:27 p.m. Doesn't sound like you two will just be talking." She said sarcastically.

Jordan rolled her eyes at her friend and walked into her bathroom to freshen up with perfume and make sure he hair was still in place.

"Can I borrow your lipstick?" Jordan asked while she smeared it on, not waiting for an answer.

Penelope sat on the side of the bathtub as she examined the bruises on Derek's side. He winced in pain at her gentle touches and it only cracked Penelope's heart into more pieces. Who would do such a thing to him? She questioned herself if Reid and her got their assumptions wrong after all and if so, she wanted to crawl under a rock for asking him such a blunt question without having right too.

"Nothing broken, and there's no internal bleeding, but you need to be wrapped up and I don't think you're capable of playing for the-"

Derek silenced her by walking away from her over to the bathroom sink, where he rested his hands on the side and closed his eyes. A single tear escaped Derek's eye and rolled down his cheek.

Penelope was rooted the bathtub, though every fiber in her wanted to rush over to Derek and hold him from behind to make the pain go away, but she knew mentally and physically that would only make him feel worse.

"Penelope I-"

He couldn't do it. He wanted to apologize to her for how rude he acted back in his room, and confess to her about his wounds, but he couldn't find his voice.

He was going to try one more time when they both were interrupted with loud chatter from his little sisters having a dispute about who's wrong and who's right which indicated his family was back home.

Derek made eye contact with her through the reflection of the mirror. "I think it's time you get home now. Your dad is going to go nuts once he finds out you took his car, if he doesn't know already."

Penelope sighed. She knew Derek wasn't going to give her answers. But she was determined to get them out of him eventually. She now knew more than she knew before and Derek knew his baby girl wasn't going to let it die until he told her how he'd gotten bruised up. Derek was one of the toughest guys at school, so no way did he get jumped by his peers.

Fran called up to her son from the bottom of the stairs alarming Penelope and Derek. Their was a total of 15 steps from the bottom, including the top until she would reach the floor and turn the corner to where they were at in the bathroom. They both began to panic for a set of different reasons. Derek didn't want his mom to find out about him being beat up, while Penelope didn't want Fran to think they were up to no good since they were in the bathroom together.

Derek didn't respond to his mother, hoping it would buy them some time, but that plan failed instantly hearing the creak of the first step indicating that his mother was indeed on her way up. He turned around to face Penelope as quickly as he could without further hurting himself and reached for some toilet tissue.

"You were crying and I came in here to comfort you."

"Only if you promise tomorrow to tell me what happened." She shot back with seriousness in her voice.

"Don't say a word to anybody about my bruises and I promise I'll tell you."

Penelope challenged him with her eyes for a moment before her face broke into a frown again. "But you still need to be wrapped."

"Don't worry about that. Mom has some downstairs in a kitchen drawer. I'll do it myself before I go to bed." His hot breath tickled her face.

Though this was a risky moment and nothing intimate went on between them, they both were afraid that his mom would get the impression which made them both nervous wrecks.

Penelope nodded and turned on the water throwing some onto her face. She took the tissues from Derek and started dabbing her eyes so the tissue would be wet and believable of tears, while Derek threw some of the tissue into the toilet and left it un flushed for evidence.

Fran knocked on the bathroom door shortly after and twisted the door handle. She didn't expect to see Penelope standing by the toilet with Derek's arms wrapped around her in a comforting manor.

"Penelope are you alright dear?" She asked with concern.

Before Penelope could speak Derek beat her too.

"She's alright ma, just got a little upset about not being the only girl anymore." He smirked. "Her brothers fiancé is having a baby; a little girl."

Penelope pulled away from him and poked her lips out in a pout. She had sent him a text message about how she felt the same day that she found out. Yes on the inside she was a little jealous but she never thought Derek would throw it back at her as a tease.

"Ahh sweetheart, don't take it so personal. You know you'll always be your fathers one and only daughter. And Derek, I wouldn't tease, because I'm sure if I ever told you I was giving birth to another son you'd be quite jealous too."

Penelope let out her giggle and thanked Fran quietly.

"Yeah yeah." Derek rolled his eyes then smirked.

"Well, thank you Fran for letting me stay, as well as giving Spencer a ride home, but I have to get going now." She said kindly before giving her hot stuff a sweet kiss on the cheek and patting it.

Derek watched Penelope walk out of the bathroom and down the hall. He couldn't help but to have his eyes glued to her ass as it swayed. Swallowing his dry throat, reality kicked back in. If it wasn't for Derek's colored skin, him and Fran were sure his cheeks would be a light shade of pink.

"It's isn't polite for you to stare at your best friend like that," his mother said. "Unless in your heart you feel that's she more than a friend."

And with that being said Fran left her son alone in the bathroom. Derek didn't know what to say for a comeback to what his mother had said. She was right though. This wasn't the first time that he's looked at Penelope like that and he's caught himself staring at her more often then he should. She was beautiful, voluptuous, and sexy. He couldn't help but to stare. Did he like her? Yes. Did he have a crush on her yes? Would he ever tell her that? No. Why? Because he was afraid if she knew his secret about Buford she would reject him.

Derek didn't wanna tell Penelope about Buford, but he promised to tell her about how he got these bruises. What was he going to do? Lifting his shirt up to check himself once again, Derek gritted his teeth from the shooting pain he felt just from lifting his arms. He needed to wrap himself now, before the pain got worse, if he planned on getting any sleep tonight.

Penelope dragged herself to her bedroom. She crashed through her beaded entry way into her brightly colored room, kicking off her pink high heels to let her feet stretch. She sat at her vanity and stared at her reflection in the mirror for a moment. She couldn't get the thought of those painful bruises on Derek out of her mind. Who would do that to him? She thought to herself over and over again. Derek was a sweetheart, he didn't deserve to be brutally assaulted. Shaking her head in frustration, Penelope stood up to walk over to her jacket pocket to pull out her cell phone from a pocket.

Emily's phone began to ring which got the attention of both teens. Reaching out to the night stand beside her, Emily grabbed her phone and hit the speaker button.

"Garcie, it's going on midnight. This better not be you procrastinating on an assignment." Emily said in a warning.

"Em, I need your help. It's ...Derek."

Emily's eyes flew open and she grabbed her phone again clicking it off speaker.

"What's up? Is he alright?" Emily tried to keep the panic out of her voice as she got out of bed and was now pacing to nowhere but the end of her bed.

"I don't know. A lot has happened tonight and I don't wanna go into detail, but someone is hurting Derek, but I don't know who."

"What do you mean hurting him?"

Penelope remembered her promise. She needed to back pedal, and fast.

"Look Em, as much as I would like to go into detail, I swore to Derek that I wouldn't say a word..."

"Penelope Garcia you tell me right now what is happening to Derek." Emily demanded.

Silence filled the other line of the call, as well as on her side of the call. Turning her head to face Aaron, he was standing behind her with a flabbergasted look on his face.

Shit.

No one knew or Derek's important to Emily but Emily and Derek. Penelope wondered what that was about, while if Aaron wasn't mistaken, he'd swear something was going on between Derek and Emily.

"Garcie, forget it. Never mind. I'll talk to you at school tomorrow."

She ended the call and ran her hand through her hair trying to ease her worried mind.

"Em?"

"Aaron I think it's time that you maybe go home." She rushed past him to the the side of her bed where she pulled out a matchbox that had a mini glass pipe in it along with a nugget of weed.

Hotch let out a laugh. Was he seeing things? God, he really didn't know Emily and she was becoming more and more interesting by the minuet.

"What's funny?"

"You're serious? That little ol' thing?" He pointed to her pipe and laughed again.

Not being able to hold back, she smirked and a snort of laughter escaped her lips. "It gets the job done."

"That's what matters I guess."

He walked around the bed to her and gestured for her to hand the pipe and lighter over to him. She did, and he sparked it, taking the first hit before handing it back over to her. She smiled at him and was impressed.

The windows were becoming fogged up from the steamy kisses between Jordan and her ex boyfriend Bryan. He was leaned on top of her in the back seat of his drop top convertible.

"Wait." Jordan said as she broke the kissing pushing him off her some. "I thought tonight we were just talking."

"Ah come on babe, what is there to talk about? You want me, and I want you. Let's let our body parts do the talking." He gestured to themselves.

Jordan eyed him for a moment thinking about if it were the wrong or right thing to do. She really did like Derek and was satisfied in that area when it came to their play, but she knew Derek didn't reciprocate her feelings. So if he didn't care about her in the way she cared about him, it wasn't really cheating right?

Closing her eyes and pulling her shirt over her head, Jordan reopened her eyes and smiled up at her ex boyfriend.

They began kissing again and undressed each other.

"Shit, I forgot a condom."

"Don't worry about that boo, I'm on the pill." Jordan smirked as her and her ex continued.

If only Jordan knew what lye ahead, she would have thunk twice about thinking it's okay to cheat on her boyfriend and allowing her ex not to use a condom.


	7. Chapter 7

**I'm back :) Goal is to update at least every 3 days... Here's the next installment.**

"Good Morning." Penelope greeted her friends as she walked into their first period class a little early.

"Morning." Her friends replied.

Yawning, Penelope took a seat next to JJ. She didn't get much sleep last night and it was definitely showing.

JJ was going to ask her friend why she looked so tired but the pitter patter of Derek's adidas slip on sandals were heard against the classroom tile.

"Hey guys," Derek said a little out of breath as he slid into an empty desk next to Aaron.

A few hey's were tossed his way but Aaron and JJ just stared. Derek looked between the two. "What?"

"What's your excuse this morning?" Aaron asked as he folded his arms.

"More scoring?" JJ added.

Emily and Rossi stifled a laugh as Derek fiend innocence. "Heyyyyy, lay off. I woke up late is all."

Rossi snorted in disbelief.

"Seriously! I had a long night." Derek defended.

"Oh let us guess." Emily tapped her chin. "A long night of tossing and turning."

Rossi smirked while the ladies groaned in disgust. Spencer didn't fully understand the tease thinking Emily meant what she said so he remained silent watching his friends.

Derek knew what Emily meant and while she was joking around, deep down he took it seriously, and it stung him. His goofballin reputation had taken a wrong turn to man whore within a year, and half the time when teased about it, it did hit a sore spot because he knew it wasn't a good look. What many didn't know, is Derek is a hopeless romantic and would rather be sleeping with one chick for the rest of his life than multiple bimbo's every other night. Before his fathers death, he witnessed his parents unconditional love for one another and he dreamed that someday he would get the chance to experience that too. But with the reputation he's made for himself right now in high school, he knows he's not going to be getting that anytime soon. No women took him serious, believing he just wanted to woo' the pants off of them, then quit it after he gets what he wants. That's not entirely the case.

"Ha ha, very funny." Derek mocks as he pulls out his binder. "Truth is, if I were, as you say, tossing and turning all night, me and the lucky girl would have gotten a great nights sleep." He grinned. "And you Emily, look like you could use a great nights sleep." He finished with a wink.

Emily's mouth fell open in shock that he said that, right here, right now, in front of their friends. The silence in the room was thick and Emily could have sworn she felt all eyes on her. Afraid to look up at anybody, Emily flipped Derek off and opened up her notebook, ready to start class.

Strauss cleared her throat loudly, to rudely get the attention of her students who were in the room. "Take out a paper and pen, and begin the bookwork that's written on the board." She announced as she walked over to her desk with a coffee cup in hand.

The room began to fill before the bell rang. Penelope sat at her desk and kept an eye on Derek. She couldn't help but to feel sort of bad for him. She knew the real reason her best friend couldn't sleep last night. He was in pain. She doubted he did as she told him to do let alone take any pain medication. Derek was hard headed and always chose the hard way.

Aaron sat staring into space, thinking about what Morgan had said to Emily. He knew it was all talk but he couldn't help but to feel somewhat jealous. He slept with Emily last night. Sure they didn't do anything in that nature but it offended him that Derek pointed out that she looked tired, as if him being with her wasn't relaxing.

Biting the end of his eraser before getting started on the assignment, Aaron made it a mission to relax Emily and be of comfort. From today and on he is going to claim Emily Prentiss and make her his. Soon their friends and the whole school will know, so Derek will have to cut it out with his jokes.

Meanwhile, in room 36B, Kevin Lynch, the art teacher, was sitting at his desk dozed off with his mouth open and snoring.

Jordan and Haley sat next to each other coloring a drawing they both been working on when Jordan said, "So have you come up with your revenge plan yet?"

Haley stopped what she was doing and shook her head. "No. I can't seem to think of anything to harm Aaron." She paused. "But I can think of a ton of ways to ruin everything for that bitch Emily." She started coloring again.

Jordan smirked and let out a laugh.

"Oh hale's, it's because you still love Aaron." She patted her back. "That's okay, leave it to me to figure out a way to get Aaron for ya."

Haley nodded. Jordan was right.

"But in the meantime, fill me in on a few of those ways to ruin Emily." Jordan smiled a sinister smile.

During passing period the hallway filled with students. The sound of lockers being slammed and chatter could be heard for miles.

Penelope tried cornering Derek to get him to talk, but he got lucky and was called over by one of the teachers who wanted to speak to him about his homecoming game.

"Hey beautiful."

Penelope turned her head to see Sam leaning against the lockers with a warm smile on his face.

"Hey yourself." She replied with the same smile as she crouched down and removed a book from her bag to drop in her locker.

"Are you planning on going to homecoming?"

Penelope stopped what she was doing and her heart beat revved up. Relax Penelope, it's just a simple question. He's not going to ask you to the dance.

"Y...yeah, with my friends."

"Who? Jennifer Jareau? Doesn't she have a date?" Sam pushed himself off the locker to come and stand in front of Penelope.

The scent of his cologne wafted into her nostrils giving her a tingly feeling. Sam reached out his hand to take hers in his as he leaned forward giving her knuckles a kiss. So suave Penelope thought as she smiled shyly. He wasn't Derek, but he was hot.

"Yeah she does, but that doesn't mean the rest of my friends aren't dateless too."

Sam rested his hand above her head against the locker and looked down at her. "So you don't have a date to the dance?" He smiled a hopeful smile that made Penelope's heart pang.

Since when was she a varsity players attraction? This had to be some sort of prank.

"No I do-." She went to answer, but Sam had his lips on hers in an instance.

Penelope being the Virgin that she is, didn't respond quick enough which made Sam pull back from the kiss. He got the answer he wanted. She was a Virgin.

He laughed lightly and leaned his forehead against hers. "Sorry about that, I couldn't help myself." He continued to be sweet.

Penelope was speechless. She never had attention from a boy like this, let alone a very popular boy.

Sam put his finger underneath her chin and tilted her head to look up at him. "Come with me to the homecoming dance. Be my date for the night?"

Before Penelope could answer his question, she heard a bang down the hall followed by a loud giggle from Jordan Todd. Turning her head to look, she witnessed Derek pinning her against the lockers while Jordan had her legs wrapped around his waste. He was grinding himself against her as he nipped at her neck.

They were crude, and Penelope's jealousy flared, making her ball up a fist.

Turning her head forward to look into Sam's eyes, she pulled him to her and pressed her lips against his. She wasn't entirely sure how to kiss but she wanted to make a good impression.

Sam smiled and pulled back from the kiss. "So that means yes?"

"Yes!"

Lunch time they all sat at their favorite table. Derek was unusually chipper, telling a story with the help of Hotch to a few ladies who dropped by at the end of the table. JJ and Rossi were being ridiculously cute feeding each other spaghetti. Emily was scribbling some thing in her notebook, probably last minute homework, while Reid as usual sat with his nose in a book.

Penelope stared off into space thinking about the previous events of the day with Sam asking her to be his date to the homecoming dance. How was she going to tell her friends? What was she going to wear?

"Hey pretty boy, can you pass me the salt." Derek asked Reid.

Reid put down his book for a moment then grabbed the salt shaker. Instead of handing it over to Derek, he pushed it further away from them both.

Emily peeked up from her homework watching the slide of the salt shaker with her eyes. "Oh hell." She thought to herself.

"Way to go Reid, acting your age for once." Derek mumbled in slight annoyance as he stood up and reached to grab the salt shaker. He sprinkled it onto his fries than sat it down.

"Screw you Morgan." Reid blurted out.

Everyone at the table looked up.

Derek was going to say something but Rossi put his hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

The ladies that were standing beside Derek walked away figuring it was about to get ugly. Aaron stared straight ahead at Derek as if challenging him. Emily elbowed Aaron in the side to stop it.

"Let's take a walk!" Dave said to Derek while he stood up from the table.

Derek was reluctant at first but got up anyways. He didn't know what Spencer's problem was but to not make things worse with his friends he decided to stay quiet.

"What was that about?" Emily whispered harshly to Aaron.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Challenging Derek! You wanted him to say something crazy to Spence? Who's side are you on?" She hissed.

Aaron remained quiet. That wasn't his intention but it did seem like it. Derek was his best friend. At one point, they picked on people together. Sure Aaron has grown up and doesn't bully people anymore, but for a moment he was really curious to know what Derek would say. Spencer pulled a bold move. Aaron was impressed.

"Soo, do you wanna tell me what's been going on with you?" Rossi asked as him and Derek walked across the field.

Derek slipped his hands in his pockets and sighed. He knew Rossi seen him in his battered condition yesterday in the parking lot. He knew he wanted an explanation.

"I don't know what you're talking about man." He tried.

Rossi snorted in disbelief. "Come on Morgan, you're going to have to do better than that." He stopped him and looked him straight in the face. "We're worried about you Derek. All of us. The mood swings, the attitude, the girls-"

"Don't talk about my sex life. You know nothing. So what I take a dip in a new pussy every other month. This is high school man, let me live my life!" He growled.

Dave was taken aback. He knew he needed to bring up the topic in order to get answers, but he hoped it wouldn't shut Derek down.

The lunch bell rang indicating that the lunch period was over. With one last glare of the eyes, Derek turned around and walked back towards the school building.

Penelope stood waiting for Derek.

"Hot St-"

"Don't."

Derek brushed by her and continued on into the building. He didn't even hold the door open for her which not only hurt her feelings, but also made her angry.

"There you are baby." Jordan wrapped her arm around Derek's waist. He groaned in pain and Jordan pretended not to notice.

Fuming, Penelope stomped upstairs to her 5th period class. Not only was Jordan Todd a whore, but she also was a whore who really didn't give two fucks about Derek Morgan. And Derek is so blind, he doesn't even see he deserves someone better.

"Anything?" Read the text message JJ sent Rossi as soon as she sat at her seat in class.

"Nope. Except I hit a nerve. He's not talking to me for the rest of the day." Dave replied.

JJ looked up from her phone and saw Garcia plop down in her seat with her arms folded in frustration.

"Well, I guess it's my turn. I'll see what I can do." JJ pressed send than slid her phone back into her back pocket.

"Pen what's wrong?"

"Stupid Morgan." She mumbled under her breath.

JJ sighed and rubbed Garcias hand.

Outside in the hallway, Aaron checked his surroundings before attacking Emily's plump lips. She giggled in the kiss which made him chuckle lightly.

Mr. Gideon was rounding the corner when he saw the teens misbehaving. He cleared his throat before saying, "Hotchner."

Aaron's eyes flew open and he froze. He continued to stand in front of Emily, afraid for her to be seen with him. Gideon knew about him and Haley, but not about him and Emily.

"Don't you two have a class to be in."

Emily gave Aaron a pat on the back to let him know it was okay to move. They were already caught. Hotch sighed and moved away from Emily, turning around to face his favorite teacher.

Gideon hid the shock from his face and motioned for the two to step apart.

"Prentiss, I never expected to see you in this kind of predicament." He smirked.

Dropping her head, Emily mumbled "Sorry sir."

He nodded. What these teens did wasn't any of his business, so he chose not to comment on it.

"I think it's best if I hustle to class now." Emily jerked her thumb in the right direction and began a sprint down the hall.

Aaron watched her for a moment before returning his attention to Gideon who had a brow raised.

"It's not what you think. I'm no longer dating Haley."

Gideon nodded again. On the inside he was relieved. Aaron didn't come off as one to cheat, unlike his pal Derek.

"Well I would say I'm sorry son, but it looks like you aren't to hurt by the change."

Aaron chuckled slightly.

Haley was standing outside of her classroom on the 3rd floor. She had just came back from the bathroom. Emily was rushing up the staircase when Haley peeked over the banister to see who was coming up. She chewed her gum harder and rolled her eyes at the sight of the girl who stole the love of her life.

An impish grin came to her face as she instantly thought of a clever plan. Deciding she was now done with her gum, Haley waited for the perfect moment to spit it out, which landed in Emily's hair.

Hearing a giggle, Emily looked up in time to see Haley who rushed away from her sight quickly.

"Ok that was weird." Emily thought as she finally reached the top landing and headed towards her English class.

The door was locked so she was forced to knock on the door which she loathed at the thought of getting the whole classes attention.

"Emily? Where have you been?" Ms. Callahan asks with her hand out, seeking a hall pass.

"Eh, sorry teach, I have no excuse."

Kate eyed Emily for a moment. She knew there had to be a valid reason why she was late to her class, but if Emily didn't want to talk about it, so be it.

The teacher moved aside to let Emily in when she said "Just this once I'll let it slide, but in the future please have a hall pass. I don't wanna have to give you detention."

"Yes ma'm."

Emily started for her desk. Merely inches away from her seat, some girl named Elle Greenway says, "EWWW! You have gum in your hair!"

"What?" Emily asks as she pays the back of her head with her hand. She comes in contact with something sticky and her eyes go as wide as saucers. "Oh my god!" She shrieks.

JJ shoots up from her desk and is by her side in an instance. "Ms. Callahan can we be excused please! She really does have gum in her hair!"

The teacher quiets down the class who is now in a uproar between concern and laughter. She reaches into her desk and hands Ms. Jareau the hall pass and watches them as they dash out of the classroom.

Derek leans against the wall in his P.E. class trying to keep the current pain he was in written off his face. Mr. Cruz blows his whistle signaling for everyone to gather round the hanging rope in the middle of the gym. The teacher explains the task and best strategy of how to get near the top with ease. Shortly after, he asks who wants to volunteer to climb up first and many hands shoot up. As usual, the teacher calls on the one student who isn't participating, and today that is Derek Morgan.

He gulps.

Hotch watched Haley as she sat at her desk staring at him with an impish grin across her face. He couldn't shake the feeling that she was up to something. He knew he broke her heart when he told her about his feelings for Emily, but from what he saw, she surprisingly took the news okay. Being the 'kind' man that he was, he threw her a quick smile before he got back to his work.

"May I be excused?" Penelope asked her English teacher, back in Ms. Callahan's class.

"Is everything alright?"

"I don't feel good, I need to go see the nurse and possibly lye down for a little while."

Kate didn't believe Penelope but she saw the difference emotions displaying across her face half the period. It was like the girl was having a mini battle with herself in her mind. She came in frustrated, than she seemed deep in thoughts than shortly after that she seemed sad, now her face said content; like her mind was finally made up. Whatever the issue might be Callahan hoped her soon to be sister in law was making the right decision.

"Tonight's homework will be to read the first two chapters of the story." The teacher began as she sat at her desk and began scribbling a pass for Pen.

Penelope got up from her desk and grabbed her bag.

"Mr. Cruz, so I really gotta do this?" Derek whined as he looked up at the rope dangling from the ceiling.

"Go on Morgan, you got this."

Truth was Derek didn't really have this. His side was throbbing and he should have taken the pain medicine like he was suppose to. How was he going to get out of this one without coming clean about his injury or making it worse.

"You can do it Der." A few of the ladies chanted which normally would egg him on. Not today.

Derek twisted his foot around the bottom and lifted his arm to grip the rope. He swear he heard a slight crunch at the stretch of his arm and he gritted his teeth in pain.

Mr. Cruz noticed immediately and blew his whistle for Derek to stop.

"Morgan, you alright?"

"Derek!" Came Penelope's voice as she rushed over towards the class, with nurse Joy behind her.

Slightly embarrassed, but quite thankful, Derek let go of the rope and dropped his arms. He held on to his side and hunched over in pain.

Everyone stepped aside for Penelope and Nurse Joy who quickly began examining Derek's condition. They gently lifted his shirt and saw the purple bruising.

"Mr. Cruz, we'll take him."

Cruz nodded his head and scraped his face in guilt. He had no idea that Derek was in pain, or what was going on. Penelope saw the stress on the P.E. teachers face.

"Hey, don't blame yourself. He already was hurt, he was just being a hard head."

Mr. Cruz thanked her for the assurance and he re focused his attention on his class.

Penelope sent a small prayer up to god for giving her the idea of telling the school nurse his condition, as well as making it to Derek's class in time.

6th period begins and Ms. Blake wonder where Derek is. The class is quietly working on their reports so none of his friends seem curious at the moment. 15mins ago by before Blake stands from her desk and walks over to Aaron.

"Hotchner may I speak with you for a minute." She glances at the door.

Aaron puts his pen down and stands. Rossi and Reid look up from their papers and watch him being led outside. He shrugs before disappearing from sight.

"You and Derek are close... So I thought I'd ask you if you know of his whereabouts."

Aaron said "shit" under his breath to himself but Ms. Blake heard him loud and clear. He thought about it for a moment then returned his gaze with hers. "Honestly ma'm I have no idea. Normally I would lie for him, but I seem to can't this time."

Alex was taken aback. Did we student just admit to telling lies to cover for one another? She laughed.

"Aaron Hotchner, you are something else." She shook her head and ushered him back into the classroom.

Hotch grinned.


	8. Chapter 8

**I'm baaaaack. Sorry for the super long delay! Life has been busy so I neglected this story entirely. It is on my "to-do" list lol so it will be updated frequently again. In my last set of reviews and PM's I got requests on making this more of a Hotch and Prentiss love and I will take that into consideration and make sure I make their love blossom shortly so stick with me and enjoy this next installment. Xoxo**

The nurse finished wrapping Derek's body. He gritted his teeth in pain at her last tug before finishing the job. He put his hand out for Penelope to take so she can help him slide off the bed.

"You really need to take it easy Morgan. Your bruising has gotten worse. And I wrapped you as loosely as I could to accommodate the swelling."

Derek heard the nurse but brushed her off as he walked over to the sink to get a cup of water. He swished the water around his mouth before spitting it into the sink. Afterwards he turned around to the two women standing with their arms folded waiting for him to talk.

"What?" He groans.

"Tell us! What the hell happened to you?" Penelope was desperate. Her best friend had been avoiding the damn question all day. Why was he so set on keeping whatever it was from her so bad? She didn't know. But if he would use the brain in his head for once he would realize she wasn't going to stop asking.

Nurse Joy looked between the two and if she wasn't mistaken she would say they were an odd couple. Odd because she wishes they would stop dancing around one another and finally get together! She's known them since freshman year and with every passing day their bond only seems to grow stronger.

Derek huffed in annoyance.

"Damnit Derek, if you weren't already hurt I'd hurt you myself. You're so stubborn!" Penelope threw up her hands in frustration.

"Alright! It was practice. I got hurt at practice okay." He made sure to make eye contact with her. One false move of the eyes and she'd know he was lying.

"Practice you say?" Nurse Joy quirked a brow.

"Yes ma'm. I uh... Got tackled pretty hard by one of the guys."

"But you're on the same team? Why the hell would some idiot tackle you so hard?"

"I don't know, ask Sam! Baby you know he's had it out for me ever since I 'stole' his captain position." Derek made air quotes.

Penelope's eyes widened in shock briefly, but she quickly blinked them back to normal.

Derek caught that and was curious why she reacted that way.

Nurse Joy was sitting behind her desk on the phone waiting to be connected to the schools principle. Hearing that football practice is why Derek is injured had her worried and she needed to discuss some things with the head person in charge.

Penelope motioned to the nurse, asking if they were free to go. Nurse Joy gave them a nod and waved goodbye.

Penelope held the door open for her best friend who was giddy to leave. Once outside Derek glanced back at Penelope before continuing there walk to the building. There was an awkward silence between them. A part of him feared that Penelope didn't believe his lie, since apparently her and Spencer had him all figured out. But he wasn't ready to let them know that just yet.

When they reached the door to the building, this time Derek held it open for her before walking inside behind her.

"Well..." Penelope started but didn't know how to finish.

Derek scratched the side of his head not sure what to say besides, "thank you."

Taken by surprise Penelope searched his eyes. "What was that?"

"Don't be an ass Pen, I said thank you and you heard it."

She smiled smugly then gave Derek a kiss on the cheek. "You're welcome handsome."

"Normally I'd lean in and give you a hug but my side is still sore, so I'll catch you later goddess." He told her as he headed down the hall to his 6th period class. Penelope started up the stairs.

The bell rings and students flood the halls. Penelope stops in her tracks remembering JJ and Emily having to rush to the bathroom. She pulls out her cellphone to call her friend, hoping everything is alright.

"There you are man. Where ya been?" Hotch asks Derek in the hallway.

Derek blows out a breath of exhaustion. "Nurses office. I got hurt the other day at practice." Rossi walks up. "The pain was getting to me so I had her take a look at it."

"Baby there you are!" Jordan acts enthused and is aiming to jump on Derek but Rossi snatches her.

"Get your hands off me!" She yells which grabs the attention of almost half the students in the hallway.

"Jordan! Don't act like that!" Derek scolds her as she comes to stand beside him.

Rossi puts up his hands in surrender.

"Apologize." Derek continues to tell her.

Jordan mugs Rossi but says "sorry" anyways.

Hotch and Ross exchange glances.

"Okay well, I gotta get going. Book report due in a few weeks." Aaron tapped the book that was in his arms.

"Bella hasn't been answering any of my texts the past hour." Rossi shrugged.

"Sadly I have practice. But with this pain, maybe Buford will let me sit this one out."

Jordan stared at Aaron trying her best to make him feel uncomfortable. He fucked over her best friend and ain't no way in hell he was gonna get away with it so easily.

"I'll call to check on you later Aaron." Derek added before they all went their separate ways, with Jordan right beside him.

Emily sat in a chair in her dining room crying. JJ was in the kitchen fetching a pair of scissors. The glob of gum was so big, the only logical solution was to cut it out. Which meant Emily was about to have a new haircut.

JJ retuned to the area with a weak smile. The sound of Emily crying made her heart wanna burst at the seems and just hold her, but right now she needed to be strong and focused.

"Emily. Emily Prentiss."

Emily removed her hands from her eyes and looked into the blue eyes of her best friend.

"I know you're upset, but I need you to be brave right now. It's gonna be okay."

Emily's eye fell onto the scissors. They gave her a nauseated feeling. She returned her gaze to JJ and nodded. "Okay, let's hurry up and get this over with."

JJ took a deep breath and positioned the scissors.

"Spencer wait up!" Penelope called out.

He turned around slowly and waited.

"Are you going to the library?"

"No. I'm going straight home today. Gotta check on mom... She hasn't been doing too well."

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that. Do you want me to come with you?"

"N-no. I'll be fine, thanks."

"Okay, whatever you say." Penelope shrugged as they continued the walk down the street.

Derek was in the locker room suiting up for practice when a loud bang was heard on the door.

"I'm coming!" He shouted to whoever was banging on the door.

He stood up and headed outside to the field. Principle Evans was on the field speaking with coach Buford along with nurse Joy.

"What's going on?" Derek asked one of his teammates.

"I don't know, but principle Evans seemed upset at Buford for something." He shrugged.

Derek took it upon himself to get his team started on drills while their coach was busy talking to the staff. He rounded everyone up and broke them down into stations.

"Ready, set, hut!" He called out. Forgetting about his hurt side he set out to run with them but bellowed over in pain.

"Morgan!" He heard Buford shout. He waved him over.

"Yes sir?"

"Your out."

"What?"

"Your out of the game ...the homecoming game."

Derek felt like he been drenched in a bucket of ice water.

"What do you mean I'm out of the game?"

Principle Evans felt the need to speak up now and explain. "Do to your current condition, it would be a a clumsy decision for you to play in this weeks homecoming game. We wouldn't want you to make your injury more serious."

"What! You can't do that!" He panicked. "How could you do that?" He shot daggers at Nurse Joy.

"Derek it's for your own good."

"No it's not. I need to be out there. My team needs me!"

The football team gathered around the commotion curious to what was going on. Buford looked just as upset as Derek did while the principle and nurse had different feelings.

"What are we suppose to do now?" Said one of the players.

"Do we forfeit?" Said another.

"No no, calm down everyone. The game is still on."

Everyone looked to Buford waiting to hear the next move. When he remained silent and just stared at Derek, everyone turned their attention to him.

Inhaling a deep breath, that caused him pain, Derek turned his attention to Sam.

"Sam, it's your call."

The team gasped and coach Buford threw Sam the football.

Sam grinned devilishly as he caught it. "Thanks bro."

"Alright! Everyone back into stations on 3!"

The sound of Sam's voice faded on Derek's ears as he felt the stirring of a breakdown coming on. He pulled off his helmet and headed off the field quickly, nearly running back towards the locker room.

His fists right along with his feet attacked the closed lockers. His bruised body screamed at him in pain but it didn't stop him.

Aaron just so happened to witness the angry look on his best friends face as he hurried into the locker room. When he heard the loud banging sound of what sounded like lockers being thrown, he rushed in to see what was happening.

"Derek!" He tried his best to stop his friend from throwing punches.

Aaron wrapped his arms around Derek and pulled him away from the lockers towards the center of the room.

"Let me go Aaron!"

"No! You gotta stop this!"

Derek got one last kick in before he completely collapsed in his best friends arms. A sob broke out and the flood gates were opened.

JJ walked up to Emily and held up a mirror in front of her face. "Are you ready?"

Emily took a deep breath and opened her eyes. Short hair was definitely a shock and would take some getting use to, but she had to admit, JJ did a great job.

"It could be worse right?" JJ's voice held uncertainty.

Emily ran her fingers through her hair on both sides studying the perfect cut. Her hair was shoulder length and slightly bobbed in the back.

She finally looked over the brim of the mirror and locked eyes with her best friend. "Jayje, it's great."

"Really?"

"Yes really!" She smiled. "This is hair salon quality!"

JJ blushed.

"I can't thank you enough. Yeah it's gonna take some getting use to, but I really like it." She smirked.

JJ put the mirror down and leaned over to hug her.

"I'm glad you like it. But now that that's over, we still have bigger fish to fry?"

"Oh yeah and what's that?"

"How'd you get gum in your hair?"

Emily stiffened which made JJ pull back and look her in the face. A swirl of emotions shown in Emily's eyes before she looked away.

"Uh yeah, I must have leaned back against one of the halls in the hallway and got it in my hair." She tucked her hair behind her ear and got up from her chair.

"Okay..." JJ watched her intently. She noticed that Emily had began biting her nails like she always did when she was nervous or lying but she decided to let it go this once, knowing she'll come to her with the truth when she's ready.

"Well I'm sorry all of this happened to you today. Again, I'm glad you like the cut. It is cute." She winked. "But I gotta get going, and Dave is probably worried about me."

She grabbed her book bag and digged out her cell phone instantly seeing his missed calls.

"Thanks again Jayje. I really appreciate it."

"No problem." She headed for the door and Emily saw her out.

"There you are Bella." Rossi greeted his girlfriend as she leaped into his arms.

She called him up as soon as she left Emily's house asking him to meet her at her house. Her parents were out of town and her grandmother was over to watch her.

"Sorry I missed your calls. Emily had an emergency and I had to-"

She stopped herself from going on and Rossi quirked a brow.

"What is it Bella?"

"Well, uh... She got gum in her hair and it was really bad Dave, so I... had to Cut it out."

It took a moment for JJ's words to register but when it did he gave his girlfriend a surprised look.

"You cut Emily's hair? Seriously?"

JJ nodded.

Rossi barked out in laughter and JJ popped him on the shoulder.

"It's not funny babe!

He tried to stop laughing but he couldn't. Trying to picture Emily with short hair was comedy.

"Oh man, I bet she was mad. No, better yet, I bet she cried."

JJ folded her arms clearly upset with her boyfriends behavior.

Rossi immediately got quiet and pulled JJ into another hug. "Ok ok, I'm done."

"And For your information, her hair cut came out quite awesome. She likes it."

Rossi pulled away from her to look at her and smiled. "Really? That's great Bella."

"I know right? Who would of thought, spending time with my aunt Noris at the salon would pay off." She shrugged.

Rossi leaned in and gave his girl a kiss on the cheek, then her other cheek.

She blushed.

"Wanna come inside for dinner? I'm sure my grandma made spaghetti."

"As long as she doesn't mind my criticism. Nobody makes spaghetti as good as an Italian."

JJ rolled her eyes and drug her boyfriend into the house.

"What happened?" Aaron asked his best friend as they walked through the front door of his empty house.

His mom and sisters were downtown at the shopping mall. Something about buying new dresses if he remembered the conversation from this morning.

Derek ignored Aaron's question and went in search of the key to his fathers old liquor cabinet.

Aaron knew Derek better than anybody, besides Garcia, not to rush Derek into talking. If he feels pushed he would completely shut down and shout at Aaron to get out, so he took a seat on the couch and waited.

Derek came back into the room with the silver key in hand. He unlocked the liquor cabinet and pulled out a big bottle of Jack Daniels.

Aaron's eyes lit up. That was their favorite cognac. Both of them weren't heavily into drinking, but when times called for it they'd empty half a bottle.

Penelope was in the middle of stirring her yogurt when her cell phone began buzzing on the counter. She picked it up and read a text message from a number she didn't recognize.

"Hey baby doll... I can't wait to dance with you at homecoming. Hopefully you'll wear black, because black is my favorite color."

She twisted her face to the color choice. Black was so not her. Garcia was a colorful rainbow. She mostly wore bright pinks, purples, and yellows.

"Hey Sam. I can't wait to dance with you too. Black? Ehhh I'll think about it. How did you get my number btw?"

She pressed send then stuck a spoonful of yogurt in her mouth.

Moments later, Sam's reply chimed in. "Listen here Penelope, what color I want you to wear is not up for debate. You either wear a black dress or you're not going to the dance with me. Got it?"

Penelope was taken aback. Who did Sam think he was to talk to her like that? Twisting her face in anger Penelope was about to text back when she saw Aaron's name flashing on her screen.

"Hello?"

"I don't know why you did it, but Derek is highly upset with you."

"Huh?"

Aaron sighed and rubbed his temple with his free hand. He was upset with Penelope too. Why would she purposely get Derek thrown out of the homecoming football game was beyond him, but he wanted to get to the bottom of it.

"Garcia, Derek is benched for the homecoming game Friday. They won't let him play."

Penelope was floored. She felt entirely guilty and wanted nothing more than to disappear. Her hot stuff must be furious with her. How is she going to come back from this?

"Let me talk to him."

"Uh, I don't think that's a very good idea right now."

"Aaron"

"Penelope."

She sighed in frustration.

"Why'd you do it?"

"Do what?"

Now Aaron's patience was running slim.

"Why did you have him benched?"

"Me? I didn't do this. All I did was have him see the schools nurse!"

"Which brung it to her attention that he was hurt so he shouldn't play." He said flatly.

Penelope poked her bottom lip out into a pout. Both teens remained silent on the phone for a short while before Aaron spoke again.

"Derek's really pissed off Pen. You know this game meant a lot to him. It would be smart of you to take my advice and stand clear of him til this is all over."

"No! You can't do that! You're not the boss of him or me. If I wanna talk to my hot stuff I will!"

Aaron sighed again and shook his head. "Whatever" he ended the call without a goodbye.

Emily stood in her bathroom mirror playing with her new short hair. She really did like it and questioned herself why she didn't cut it sooner. Her pet cat Sergio jumped up onto the sink and meow'd.

"You hungry Sergie?" She asked the cat who purred in response.

"Come on, let's get you some dinner." She reached for the cat and held him in his arms as she walked downstairs and down the hall to the kitchen. Her cell phone was lit up indicating that she had a text message.

After pouring Sergio his meal she retrieved her phone and read the text.

"How's the gum in your hair coming along? Are you now bald and match the boy attitude that you have?"

"Who is this?" Emily texted back?"

"Your worst nightmare if you don't leave Aaron alone!"

Emily had a sinking feeling in her gut. She knew it was Haley. Who else would know about her and Aaron, let alone have a problem with it.

She wasn't in the mood for confrontation trying to leave that character of herself in the past. Emily feared no one and definitely wasn't a punk. Moving around country to country meant tons of different schools most of her life. She's had a great number of fights which lead to suspensions and being expelled.

Sighing, Emily began typing the dumb girl back.

"Look Haley, I really don't want any problems. Aaron is a big boy and if he chooses to hang out with me that's his business. I'll assume your opinion doesn't matter so much anymore since you two split up. But please please make the smart decision of leaving me alone so things won't get ugly.

P.S. Do not text my phone ever again.

Thank you and have a nice night."

She pressed send and waited. She knew the girl had a brain the size of a pea.

Sure enough, moments later another text came through.

"Hard headed little girl. Ohhh you just watch!"

Emily rolled her eyes and tossed the phone onto the couch. "Alright bitch, you started it." She said aloud as she walked away, ready for whatever Haley would bring.


End file.
